Music, shopping, wild flowers

A few more pictures of wild flowers at Imrie Park.

Bunchberries, they have a white flower in spring, then produce these little berries, in parts of the bush they cover the forest floor. Click on the picture to enlarge, shows the berries a little better.

Woody went to Edmonton this morning in hopes of finding valves for the inflatable and parts for the O F & G pressure washer. The pressure washer has its own water tank he would load the washer into the bucket on the tractor, fill the tank, making it portable and very useful for many jobs at the campground and needed for keeping the tractors clean. After cleaning up our home, I spent my time ripping music, so I can burn hours of music on one CD, picking out my favourite tunes, there are usually a couple of songs or more that I am not fond of on every CD that I buy. That is one thing I miss is the CD changer, use the DVD player and of course only one CD at a time and I find it a pain to keep changing yeah I know I am lazy, I like to have music playing when I am doing whatever in the fifth. I could play tunes from the computer but I much prefer to use our home theatre with sound surround! I also thought once I ripped all the tunes it would be easier to use them for the DVD slideshows I create, I will move them to the external drive to keep my laptop hard drive from becoming overloaded.

Wild Saskatoon bush struggling to survive in the dense growth. There are actually quite of number of bushes, I will them for the birds.

Woody arrived home late in the afternoon a little disappointed; he did not have much luck with parts for the pressure washer he did find valves for the boat, although he had to settle for a generic kit, which requires adaptors to fit. Guess we will find out tomorrow if they will do the job, it started raining shortly after he returned home. Woody and Scott had planned to go out this evening to set up their tree stands and luckily, the rain let up by the time they had planned to meet. While waiting to meet Scott, Woody told me he had a chat today with a friend who has a dealership and can get the club a real deal on a new garden tractor that will last them for years, do a better job, it would replace the small tractor which is used for cutting around the buildings and campsites is not big enough and scalps. Great news, now the members will have to raise the money for the new tractor. After Woody left I continued with my project anxious to have the music ready for playing later in the evening when Woody returned. Well I messed up, I ripped it in wav format did not think to check before I started ripping the music. I realized it when I went to burn the new CD and was only able to add a few more tunes on the new CD than I had on the originals! ARRRGGHH, I knew they needed to be ripped to the MP3 format, okay there must be a way to change the format, start reading the help menus, nope cannot change the format once ripped, bummer, now what, I sure do not want to delete the tunes and start all over, especially since I had spent so much time deciding which tunes I really wanted on my new CD’s. Woody arrived home and I explained my frustration with myself, he looked at me with sympathy in his eyes, and said “Sorry babe I cannot help you with that challenge, you know how much knowledge I have when it comes to computers”, came over and gave me a kiss “Yeah, I know, I didn’t expect any help, thanks for listening” I say. I was glad he was home, I needed to vent and he was all excited about all the does and big bucks he and Scott had seen, I shut down the Media Player and put the CD’s away, I will think about a solution tomorrow. I settled down to hear all about their trip to the new hunting area, now the trick will be to find the bucks come hunting season.

Fireweed is spread throughout the bush, very pretty when in full bloom, they are now at the end of their blooming season, not quite as showy.

We spent some time checking out our favourite forums took Oreo out for one last playtime and headed to bed.

A busy fun weekend!

This weekend Onoway Fish and Game Association are holding their annual summer gathering at the park, they put on a Barbeque on Saturday evening and a breakfast Sunday morning for all members as a way of thanking the members for all the volunteer work accomplished throughout the year. It was a great weekend; we met many of the members, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Cooking for the gang!

The BBQ is a huge commercial type stainless steel unit that was purchased by the club and is available for rent to other groups who wish to use it at the park. The club also owns a commercial type griddle and Sunday morning we were treated to pancakes, eggs and sausage!

Salads, condiments, buns and deserts were provided by the hard working executive members.

Not sure exactly how many attended the BBQ, around 60 people.

Many of the members play crib, there were about 3 tournaments going on Saturday afternoon and again after dinner! Woody took part in a couple of games, did not win any money though. LOL

There is an ongoing Gopher Competition, 1st prize is a 22 cal. rifle to the person who brings in the biggest gopher, weigh in at the clubhouse and the second prize is bullets to the person bringing in the most tails! Not sure of the closing date, open to members that are in good standing and members who joined before June 08.

Some of the campsites, not all stayed for the weekend.

The only picture I took of Woody did not turn out very well.

One of the hardest working members celebrated his birthday on Saturday, the club could not let it go unoticed!

Left to right, Norm, President, Ron Bday boy and Gary in the background goofing off!

Ron figured out I had made the card for him. I so enjoyed making the card for such a great person.

It was a very hot day Saturday, some sat in the group area in the shade, later we had a big campfire in the group fire pit, partially hidden behind the tree to the left in the picture.

There were balloons attached to the board which the kids shot with darts, took them no time at all to pop all the balloons!

Later in the evening while we all were enjoying the campfire a thunder storm came crashing through, back to the shelter until the pouring rain stopped, returned to our home between showers after chatting, and enjopying some story telling among the members!

Sunday after a huge breakfast and more visiting the members cleaned up, Woody helped them clean up the shelter, clean the BBQ, load up the grill and return it to it's home, etc.

Sure was quiet here after all the activity of the weekend, I felt a little unsettled for awhile, I think even Oreo missed all the attention and play time she recieved from some of the club members, they all loved her!

I grabbed a book, to lazy to do much of anything except to read and play with Oreo! Woody made a couple of trips to the gun range just to make sure all were following the rules, all was great, except there was one young fellow breaking in a new gun and was not cleaning the riifle between shots so Woody loaned the young fellow his cleaning kit and explained to him why and how to use it. The young fellow had a cleaning kit but had left it at home and didn't realize how important it was when breaking in a new gun, later he returned the kit and thanked Woody a million times, the new gun was a Tikka 330 win meg, so of course there was much discussion regarding the gun!

Woody went fishing for awhile during the evening, only caught one fish, it will be our dinner tomorrow night! A great weekend!

Nothing too exciting today

Going to be a very warm day predicting 88F 31C and will feel even warmer with the humidity. We decided to travel into Spruce Grove to pick some more flower baskets and other needed items. We left fairly early to beat the heat, leaving Oreo at home, with the fifth tucked in the trees it stays cool inside until late in the day. We checked out the exact whereabouts of the dump station and parking possibilities for the group that want to stop in Onoway for lunch on their way home tomorrow, nowhere to park the rigs and go for lunch unless they use the school parking lot and want some exercise before lunch walking to the restaurant. Planted the flowers and situated the baskets as soon as returned home, had lunch and chatted with the campers sharing the information we had gathered. I then spent time creating some maps and information sheets to pass to campers covering topics of interest to the campers that frequent the park. Woody cut grass and cleaned out fire pits. A couple of the Onoway Fish and Game members will be pulling in later to start preparations for the gathering here this weekend. Then spent more time trying to locate the leak in our inflatable boat, just cannot locate it, we sprayed the whole boat with soapy water, filled it with water, it is a very slow leak think it must be a valve leaking even though we do not see bubbles, will check out where we can purchase new valves. Woody and Scott went fishing for the evening returning around 10:30 pm with more fish; Woody gave a couple away to the O F & G members that had arrived earlier. We then spent a little time checking our favourite forums and turned in for the night.

Working and fishing

Another warm gorgeous day, no rain predicted, Woody did some mowing in the campsites and cleaned up the horse shoe pits this morning, while doing that he stopped by the campers (a Good Sam group) to inquire if they needed anything, they requested a map to Salter’s Lake, Woody called me on the 2 way radio and I got busy looking for a map for them. It was a bit of challenge as Salter’s Lake is so small it does not show up on any maps, I can find Onoway but again streets and roads do not show up, after some research I find a map, print it out and off I go to pass it along to the campers. While I am chatting with them they ask about restaurants, the dump station and a bakery, I share the knowledge I have regarding restaurants and I know there is a dump station in Onoway, but not sure where it is, tell them I will find out for sure and let them know later, no problem they do not need the information until Friday. Woody is out mowing so I walk over to where is mowing and ask him but he is not sure exactly where the dump station is either, oh well back home, I will prepare a list of restaurants with addresses, etc. Later Josie drops by and she draws me a sketch of where the dump station is, I print off a map and mark exactly where the dump station is, I love doing that kind of thing, tomorrow when we go into Onoway I will check the directions to be sure they are clear and correct before handing them to the campers. We know what a pain it is to drive around looking for a specific location dragging a trailer behind when the directions are not clear. I played with Oreo but after about three throws, she took her fetch toy and just started walking down the path, too hot even for her. Woody came in for lunch, it was getting very warm, said he was going to go to Archery/Gun range to do some cleaning up with the mowers after lunch as it was getting too hot to work in the sun, shovelling and digging. We had a quick lunch and off he went with the small mower, returned later and picked up the big tractor, he came home around 4:30 pm tired said that was enough, lots more work to do there but was happy. We sat outside for a while had an adult beverage then he started working on finding a leak in the inflatable (it has developed a very slow leak), no luck finding the leak. We put some items on the BBQ for dinner, cooking them while still trying to locate the leak, cannot locate the exact place we will have to deflate it, take the floor out as it appears to leaking in one side in that area. Scott calls and wonders if Woody has time to go fishing this evening, well of course, he has time, so around 7:30 pm off they go, maybe they will get lucky again and we will have fresh fish tomorrow night! I cleaned up the dinner dishes, and worked on the blog for a while, Oreo laying in garage where it is cooler, not even asking to go out and play. Around 9:30 pm I take Oreo out is has cooled down very nicely, I love Alberta summers, always cools off at night, would be a great night for a campfire if we had a fire pit, but we have been told we will have one soon! All campsites here have a fire pit with wood provided with no extra cost to the campers, not many campgrounds offer that benefit anymore. . Interesting walk, fresh poop on the trail, I know it was there this afternoon and not deer droppings, thought it might coyote, there are always calling here in the evening, so decided to return home, do not need any encounters between Oreo and coyotes, she would loose as they usually travel in packs. Got home around 10:00 pm, the boys are not back yet either they are catching lots of fish or hanging out in hopes of catching some. Well it turns out they were catching fish arrived home about 10:30 pm excited and happy.






I think the smiles say it all.

Rainbow Trout, up to 3 1/2 lbs, Scott will smoke these fish, cannot wait to have a feast.


We sat outside chatting with Scott for a while and after his departure, we checked out favourite forums and called it a night!

Some wild flowers and other stuff

Woke up to a beautiful sunny, warm day, Woody was eager this morning wanting everything shipshape for the group that was arriving around 2:30 pm today. After the weekend, the garbage cans need emptying, some mowing done in the campsites, bathrooms swept and restocked with TP, etc. Woody went out to start the big tractor one tire is low, okay get the compressor and pump it up, I take Oreo and we are off for our morning walk/play on the trail. While out walking I hear the little tractor running and when I return Woody asks me to listen for the compressor, when it stops continue adding air to the tire, while he is mowing. The little compressor would not do the job, Woody makes a couple of phone calls, off he goes to borrow a larger compressor, returns, as he is blowing the tire up he notices the tire is coming off the rim. A couple of more phone calls, O F & G member (Ron) came to the rescue! They removed the tire and Ron takes it to the shop for repair. In the meantime, Woody continues mowing grass; I looked after the bathroom detail and swept off the sidewalks, we then grab a quick late lunch. Ron returns with the repaired tire and they are in the process of mounting the tire when the group starts pulling in as well as O F & G member, Josie who looks after reservations for the campground, she looked after getting the group settled in and then gave me the changes that were made, thank you Josie! Next year we will have a cell phone with the number listed in the brochure to look after all reservations but for this year it was decided to leave it in Josie’s capable hands as her cell number is the number listed to contact for reservations. Woody looked after the garbage detail and then cleaned out the large group fire pit for the group’s use they prefer to use it instead of the individual pits. Cleaning the fire pit was a major job, as it has not been maintained very well. To dispose of the bucket full of ashes he dug a hole to bury the ashes near the edge of trees in an unused area of the campground as instructed by O F & G Association. Around 4:30 pm, Woody left for town to return the air compressor after making use of it to clean up the big tractor, blowing all the accumulated fuzz, dirt, and grass from the filters, etc. Oreo and I went for a much-needed walk/play after he left as I have spent a large part of my afternoon working on the blog and trying to fine-tune my campground reservation spreadsheet. Just after 6:00 pm Scott called, Scott his wife Jill and Woody arranged to meet at a friend of Scott’s to look at some archery equipment he had for sale, should be interesting to see what he comes home with. I spent time catching up at my favourite forum, Oreo snoozed; now she is asking to go out and play, guess I will oblige, walking the trails is always great.





Can you see Oreo in the undergrowth? She is looking for her fetch toy.

Wild Raspberries fighting to survive in the dense growth beneath the trees

I do not know the name of these, they grow every where in this area.

Oreo bringing back her toy so I will throw it again. When she tires of chasing it she picks it up and starts walking ahead of me down the path.

We were returning from our walk on the trails when Woody calls me, I can tell he is all excited, he says he has a surprise for me, I immediately thought, oh yeah what did he buy. Just as I was coming up to the fifth, Woody is stepping out and sees me coming, he walks out, I say “so what is the surprise”?, “I spent some money” is his reply, “well that is no surprise I pretty much knew you would” I reply, “so what did you buy”?. He brings out the box, “I bought you a new bow and it is a real nice one, I got a real good deal on it, saved lots of money”. Hmm, I think interesting concept, how can you save money by spending money on something I was not sure I even needed, but he really thought I needed a lighter bow and a smaller one. Woody is excitedly opening the box and showing me all the goodies that went with the bow, now I am getting excited, as it real is a nice little bow, so much smaller than the one I have. He is still busy explaining how much he had saved, then he says, I bought something else also, a ground blind, that was not a real surprise, he has been talking about wanting one for awhile so I knew he would eventually get one. He pulls the box out of truck and shows me the picture on the box, “well aren’t you going to set it up?” “Not tonight” he says, “well come on I want to see it” I say, so he pulls it out of the box, all the time telling me how nice it is and how easy it is to set up. Then he tries to set it up, I should have had the video camera running at this point, it was so funny! I watch while he tries to figure out how to set it up, he unfolds one side and tries to pull out the other side, then the first side just rolls up again, he rolled it around the yard the bit, and then I hear, “What the hell, how does this thing work”. I suggest he look at the instructions, he grabs the box, looks in and says “there are no instructions”, I can see the instructions from where I am sitting, they are attached to the opening the storage bag, so I get up to show him when he finally sees them. I am sitting there just laughing; he asked for my assistance and between the two of us, we got it set up. I was entertained later while he figured out to fold it up; it is really too bad he would not allow me video tape this happening, we could probably win cash on AFV. So bottom line is he spent money but provided me some pretty good entertainment for a while, as well as picking up a nice bow for me, I really do like it and I now agree with Woody this bow is more suitable for me, weight and size wise.



Each point you see needs to pulled out, like popping an umbrella when the wind has flipped it inside out.

Oreo climbed inside right away to investigate and now she thinks it is her house!

The bow still needs to be properly set up for me, the weight is too heavy for me to pull at this point.

Going to take some learning to shoot it, I have a mechanical release for it, just needs to be installed. When I am actually shooting it I will post another picture, this is for target shooting and fun, not for hunting.

Family and Friends gather

Woody got up early to run into Spruce Grove to shop for the groceries he was going to pick up yesterday when returning from fishing but it was too late. Campers were checking out today and a few dropped over to pay their fees, shortly there after a member of OF & G stopped by to update the reservation list for next week and I handed over the fees we had collected this weekend, reservations are already coming in for next season! We finished our preparations for dinner after Woody returned, then our grandson called to ask if his girlfriend could come over for dinner also, well of course we always love to see Emily, she is a delightful girl, he then said it was a little more complicated than just Emily coming, a couple of his friends wanted to come also, along with one friends parents. I told him they would be very welcome to come but I did not have enough food prepared for so many extra people, he assured me they would bring their own food; cool we will have a good-sized gang to visit. A short time later friends, Stan and Debbie stopped by for a visit. We went for a nice walk on one of the trails, chatting as we walked along, soon after we returned home, our friends Allen and Karen with daughter Christine dropped in carrying a picnic basket and cooler. Wow, this is terrific, visiting with friends I have not seen since leaving in March; Woody had seen Allen and Stan briefly regarding business but not the girls. A short time later Michelle, Chris and Caitlin arrive, we gather outside catching up on news and of course sharing stories. Christopher, Emily and his friend Jessie show up later and it is then I realize that Christopher has played a trick on me, Allen and Karen are “his friends parents” he invited (Allen and Karen are long time friends of ours)! You are good Christopher, you know your Grandma; it did take me a while to catch on, eh! LOL. Debbie and Stan left, they had other friends to visit, we prepared dinner with lots of assistance, and Woody showed Allen and Karen the Africa DVD’s. Scott called wondering if Woody could get a “fishing pass” and meet him at the lake, sorry not this evening, we have company. Company left around 9:00 pm or so, Scott phoned later, and then came over for a short visit; he had four real nice fish and a gift for Woody, an anchor for the little boat, which he had found, so thoughtful! A truly fantastic day!






Karen, myself and Christine.











Our good friend Allen.







We had to tie Oreo up, she was determined everyone should share their dinner with her!

Christopher and Emily. Emily brought homemade cookies, thanks Emily, they were delicious and much appreciated.

Jessie and Christine!

Christopher and his friends.

Chris and Michelle, Chris was head Chef in charge of the BBQ, Michelle and Karen took over kitchen duties, thank you so much!

Caitlin enjoying a large burger!

Getting ready to eat!

Woody and Scott playing

Wow, I am actually up-to-date with the blog, yes, I am happy!
Woody, his friend Scott, Scott’s son and his Dad went to the gun range this morning and had a great time, Woody took his Tikka 308, Scott had many different guns and his son James used a 22 calibre rifle, .after a few shots all were making good shots right on target. We had a surprise visit from Grant and daughter just after Woody returned from the range what an awesome surprise, we enjoyed a short visit!
I spent my time completing the Africa DVD, I had to burn it a couple of times due some changes I decided to make after viewing the finished product. As the second copy was burning, I was listening to some of my favourite music while enjoying a message in our wonderful message chair we purchased from our chiropractor friend, Grant, thinking could heaven be better than this, I really do not think so, we are so totally at peace living here. Oreo and I walked on the trails a few times during the day and played fetch while walking, she is such fun to watch find her fetch toy when I toss it in the bush, the undergrowth is very thick, all I can see is her tail wagging, she never gives up until she locates her toy, typical Lab behaviour.

Around 3:00 pm, Scott and Woody went fishing at Salter’s Lake; they took our inflatable boat with electric motor and had a blast. I was online chatting when they finally returned about 9:00 pm with some real nice trout, good for the BBQ tomorrow when Michelle and family show up for a planned visit, we will provide dinner. A fellow that is camping here gave Woody and Scott permission to hunt on his farm so they gifted him two fish, word spread quickly and we had some visitors to check out the fish and inquire where they were catching such nice fish. We sat outside visiting with Scott until after dark, such a tough day eh!

The lake is small, aerated and stocked each year.

Fishing is such hard work eh, Scott!

A nice Rainbow trout!

Woody caught a couple of nice ones also.

What can I say, another fantastic day

Windy, cloudy, and cool this morning, feel for the campers in tents, not very nice with this gusty wind. We have been invited to watch a friends’ son play football, Woody will go, I will stay home, do not want to stand out in this blustery weather, threatening too rain and also one of us should be here as the camper’s are pulling this morning. Some campers have arrived at our door with their camp fees already and also asking if they can change spaces and the one I enjoyed the most, a fellow asked Woody to help him settle a difference of opinion he and his wife were having regarding the parking of their trailer, and he happily obliged.
Woody left and after the campers were settled in I took Oreo for a walk/play along the trail, then worked on the camper registration spreadsheet, it will be a work in progress for awhile, I am still not satisfied with the layout but it works for now to keep track of the registrations and funds, etc. The weather is improving, I am listening to some soothing beautiful piano music as I write this, Oreo is laying contently at my feet does life get any better than this I wonder to myself, ah well I shall just enjoy each day as it presents itself. Michelle called regarding a date for a get together on Monday, oh yes-good plan, we made a date and sure looking forward to it, always nice to visit with the kids.
Woody returned around 5:00 PM all excited, a friend had called and invited him to go fishing this evening, oh yes he accepted the invitation, so after a quick visit off he went. He was lucky enough to catch a 2 lb Rainbow Trout; he was a happy fisherman and totally enjoyed the company as well as the fishing. Just after he returned home a member of the OF&G Association stopped by, just checking in, we exchanged information regarding the campers, and were informed that they were receiving positive feedback regarding our host position, now that was sure nice to hear from our “boss” eh! We spent time chatting online with friends, Woody took a walk about the campground to make sure everyone was happy and after spending more time chatting with friends we closed the gate and headed to bed, another awesome day here at Imrie Park.

An important day

Today is a very important day for two reasons, first and most important it is our daughter Tracy’s birthday, Happy Birthday Tracy, love ya lots from Mom and Dad, hope you are having a great time camping this weekend! Second it is Oreo’s second birthday, but no cake for her, just some extra loving and maybe an extra doggie treat eh!
Woody got up early today, he is meeting with some members of the Onoway Fish and Game Association to help them install a new dock at Salter’s Lake, since our visit a few weeks ago, some vandals burned the dock and the toilet there, what a terrible thing it is such a nice little lake. We did not realize that the Association managed the lake when we first visited the lake. It is a real crime that the vandals will probably never be caught. The hours of volunteer time, the donated services, (a track hoe to lift the dock in place), the cost of buying the drums and having them filled with foam, plus the other materials, these rotten brats just have no idea what is involved to build and then re-build, nor do they care. They also burned some items at other parks in the Onoway vicinity.
Note: I hope to add some pictures of this task as one of the members said they would send some of the pictures they took, I will note the update when completed. Woody returned around noon as he had an appointment in the city at 2:30 pm with the clinic where he received his bone-anchored hearing aids. They asked him a while ago if he would volunteer some time as they are doing more research to improve the hearing aids. He has been their guinea pig many times before and is very happy to accommodate them. He completed other errands after his appointment and returned home round 6:00 pm. I spent most of the day working on the blog, cleaning up the hard drive on Woody’s computer, walking/playing with Oreo and getting very frustrated with a computer program I purchased a year ago. I re-installed it on my computer and when I attempted to activate the program, I got a message that informed me I had to buy a new license as I had exceeded the allowed activations, which is ONE! I thought okay I have the whole folder on my external drive so I will copy to my computer and then I should be good to go. No, that will not work either! So the flipping program crashes and I need to re-install, I immediately sent an email to their customer service department, I had re-registered online with no problem as I have the serial number and the key number you get when you first register the program. I receive an answer later informing me that I need to send them a copy of the original purchase receipt, the serial number, and my full name, what store I purchased the program, how I had paid for the item, cash, cheque, credit card, blah, and blah, blah. Well I do not have the receipt, when we moved I got rid of all the records that were not necessary, I only kept information for tax and warranty purposes. Who would have thought I would need that receipt to re-install a program. Well we will see what happens, I sent them all the information they requested except for the exact purchase date and a copy of the actual receipt. I am waiting for a second response. If they do not allow me to activate this program, I will spread the word around, and no, it is not a Microsoft program. I have never had a problem re-installing a program before this. Good thing Sony Vegas Movie Maker is not like that, as I have had to re-install it many times. The other thing that really bugs me is I registered the program online when I bought it, so why can’t they look up the information! Okay enough of that.

We had a nice dinner, then took Oreo for a walk, it is actually nice this evening after being blustery all day. There are a few campers pulling in tonight, we only have three open spots left for this weekend, and it is a long weekend in Alberta. I continued working on the blog until after 9:00 pm Woody is reading. After taking Oreo for her last play/walk we closed the gate and called it a night.

A little get together with family

Sunny, cool and windy this morning, but still a nice day. We travelled to Michelle's this morning for a brunch to meet with our granddaughter Jennifer who works at Lake Louise and was en route to Slave Lake, Alberta for a friends wedding. She and her friend Alex had spent the night at our daughter, Tracy's place they all arrived at Michelle's around 11 o'clock for brunch. We enjoyed the brunch very much; four varieties of pancakes, fruit, whipping cream and real maple syrup and had an awesome visit, returning home around 1:30 p.m. Michelle had also baked Tracy a birthday cake as it is her birthday tomorrow and they will be in Slave Lake camping, so we had a little impromptu Birthday Celebration, what a sweet thoughtful thing to do for your sister Michelle. Michelle, Caitlin, Jennifer and Alex followed us home for a visit and to review the African pictures. Jennifer and Alex left around 3:00 pm for Slave Lake another 2 1/2 hour drive for them with a stop in Barrhead, so Jennifer could show Alex, where she was born and spent part of her childhood as well as her great-grandparents home. Michelle and Caitlin left around 4:30 pm.


We forgot our camera at home so no pictures of our get together at Michelle's but we did catch a couple of pictures at our place, just as Jen and Alex were leaving.

You can hardly see Oreo against Jennifer's black skirt.


Woody and I visited for a short time and then Woody fixed a trail sign re-installed it and mowed trails stopping for a short break, checking his favorite online forum sites. Laptops are wonderful we sat outside while he checked out his favorite sites he then resumed mowing as he headed for the tractor his comment was “I should be paying them to play with this tractor I'm having so much fun”! Oreo wanted to follow him but she was very good, staying here as commanded. She sat looking in the direction he had left for about five minutes then laid down watching and listening for about another 15 until I decided I needed to take her for a walk/play to distract her. When we returned from our little walk, I took the trimming shears and trimmed around the gate, some signs were totally covered up with overgrowth of bush and others were partly covered. Oreo happily followed me and stayed close; she is such a good girl. Woody and I are surprised at how many frequent this park, many vehicles stop here through the day and evening walking the trails or just taking a short walk around the facilities and checking them out. It is 7:30 p.m., and I can hear the tractor returning, guess it's time to have some dinner. We were sitting outside just enjoying the evening when a couple that come here very often pulled in (they previously had left their motor home here), they were waving and saying hello, they stopped and said they'd be over later, they had some goodies for us. They arrived a short time later, with homemade banana muffins and some cinnamon rolls, they made comments on how much better the park locked so we sat and visited shared an adult beverage, and of course, they wanted to see the African pictures so we spent some time sitting outside with the laptop viewing the African pictures, it was a wonderful evening.

Sunset at Imrie

We woke up to a cloudy, windy and cool day, threatening rain, Woody made a few phone calls to locate the parts for the tractor then left for town while he was gone I cleaned our little home took Oreo for a nice long walk. I then started working once again on the DVD of his African trip; I really would like to get the DVD completed, so we can send it to friends. Creating a reasonably good slideshow is time-consuming, but I enjoy it and today is the perfect day for inside work. When he returned with the required parts, it was pouring rain, so he settled down to read it rained most of the day until around 7:30 p.m. with short breaks. Woody took Oreo out for a nice long walk and play during the breaks in the rain, other than checking email I spent the afternoon, and most of the evening creating the DVD, although it's not finished yet, the DVD is rendering for the first preview. It has finally stopped raining and I can see in the West that it is clearing. While chatting online with some friends later, we noticed the beautiful sunset, Woody ran out quick with the camera to capture some pictures.

More cleaning up at Imrie Park

After our usual morning routine we spent the remainder of the day attending to-park duties and playing with Oreo, Woody cut grass in the main area, brought the large tractor into the main campground and used it to complete some cleaning up chores picking up a refuge with the bucket etc. He was going to mow the trails with the rotary mower attachment but found the PTO would not engage a couple of members dropped in and between them they decided the tractor needed some parts. It appears the sheer bolts are broken. It was too late to actually to pick any parts up today so we continued cleaning up, Woody mowing more grass within the campground with little garden tractor and me puttering around sweeping out the shelter and the sidewalks etc. A beautiful warm sunny day, we both totally enjoyed spending the day outside.
Later, we settled into our little home to chat online, check email then turned in early, another fantastic day!

A productive day

Woke up to rain which continued until around 11:30 am, we spent our time, cleaning up our email box, checking our favorite forms and doing a little house cleaning. I found a post in RV.Net forums regarding an Arizona RV Park in the Snowbird section; a member posted a link to Tombstone Territories RV Park, stating it was away from the big cities, highway noise and trains WOW that sounds good. We have found so many RV parks in or close to big cities, highways, trains and no trees except for the obligatory 1 tree per site, we were ecstatic. After reviewing the website, we decided to email for more information. This park looks promising, view of the mountains and there are many interesting areas to visit. We were very pleased to hear back within one hour, a total shock as we have sent many emails to RV parks for more information in the last four weeks, most did not reply or it took two plus weeks for a reply. The park staff are forwarding a packet of information, cannot wait to recieve it! When the rain quit and dried up some Woody got out the weed eater and went to work until he ran out of string for the weed eater. Three of the members dropped over during the afternoon to assist Woody with various tasks and the association has set up accounts for Woody to purchase supplies he needs so around 3:30 pm he travelled to Onoway to purchase the needed items. Woody wants to have the camp grounds looking shipshape for the weekend crowd. There is a lot of catch-up grass cutting, grass and tree trimming etc. to do as the previous camp hosts both had full-time jobs and were not able to keep up with the trimming and mowing in the park. We are being treated so well here it is a pleasure to work with the Onoway Fish and Game Association and Gun Club.





Woody tossing Oreo's toy, she loves to play fetch!

A small grass area to the left of the parking lot.

Our home

Woody got up early to open the gate. I slept in till 9 a.m. or so, and after my first coffee I took Oreo for a nice long walk this little park has 7 miles of walking trails through the bush what a great way to start the day walking through the bush with dappled sun shining on the undergrowth. I just love the smell in the early morning in the bush. Oreo spotted a chipmunk and was determined to catch it, trying to climb the tree the chipmunk inhabited, funny to watch her, the chipmunk was totally not concerned. Just continued about it’s business as if it knew Oreo could not possibly harm it, we had had a fun walk. As the morning progressed, we dealt with checkouts and such. We then went shopping for some flowers for the park at as nearby nursery, had lunch at a local restaurant returning home around 2 p.m. excited to plant the flowers and hang up the hot no yes no what you if there is an baskets. As we were planting some of the flowers campers dropped by and commented on how nice the flowers looked and they were happy to households on a full-time basis at the park made them feel much safer. Later a member of the ennui fishing game Association dropped in to say hi, bringing his wife to introduce us to meet enjoyed a short visit. We spent some time playing cards until received a phone call from a member of the Association calling as he was concerned about the rain, they decided the tent needed to be taken down when he immediately started dismantling the tent by the time the member arrive. The tent was already dismantled, and just needed to be moved to the main building brainstorm didn't amount to much but better safe than sorry eh! We spent the evening walking checking sites and playing with Oreo chatting online and later discussing our luck at finding this opportunity and how very happy we are.





The sign with rules, costs in the park.












As you drive though the gate, the camping area is down a small hill The kitchen and shelter are what you see in the middle.








Well guess who is having fun with the little tractor.










The Rolling Castle nicely tucked in the trees.








The sign as you drive into the park.

This is a view from the Rolling Castle, the gravel area is parking for day use area and guests.

Looking Northwest from the Rolling Castle.

Looking northeast from the Rolling Castle.