This blog post is basically a “note to self” for next year as between closing up last year on a beautiful day which had us very distracted (I think Shea even went out on the boat with her folks for part of the day!), not doing a good job of tracking what was put into what storage tubs when we packed up last September, forgetting some stuff at home that we needed, and not always having stuff packed in convenient locations even when we knew where it was (Grandpa’s favourite camp chair at the *back* of the shed, Sasha’s toys in a tub at the bottom of a high stack of other tubs!), I felt woefully unprepared to get our site ready this year:
Here is a partial list of the most important things we took. Or forgot to take. Or had to borrow from Shea’s parents. Or had to think about buying during an emergency trip into Weyburn (until I realised I was too cheap and anything we needed could wait a week!)
* Bleach
* Camp Chairs
* Charging Cords
* Container of Everything That Uses Batteries (Remotes, Portable Lights, etc.) which has been brought home to store inside
* Dish Soap
* Extension Cords
* Five Gallon Pail/Ice Cream Pail
* Garbage/Recycling Bags
* Kleenex
* Large Blue Jug of Potable Water
* Rags
* Sharpie
* Toilet Paper (camp style if facilities aren’t open yet which they weren’t)
* Toolkit
* Toys
Know Rivalry is a research project from an American university where you can enter your thoughts and impressions about whoever you feel your favourite sports team(s) greatest rivals are then see results from other fans of the same team *and* your rivals’ team to see if they feel the same way about your team.
A video I cut of the many highlights of the first year we had a seasonal camp site at Echo Lake Provincial Park. A year of Covid really makes you appreciate all these little moments – having various family and friends to our campsite, shared meals, laughs around the campfire, sleepovers, meeting random strangers.
We knew my in-laws were going to pull out our camper to our seasonal site as soon as the park was open to campers today to get a head start on the coming weekend rush.
We did not know they were going to dewinterize it for us, get the power going, put the slides out, and more!
(And with the price of lumber, we’re *super-glad* we bought our deck from a neighbour who was moving at the end of last year instead of trying to build/buy one this year!!!)
RPL has had a number of people in supervisory/management positions over the dozen or so years I’ve been there and I would say I’ve honestly seen both the best and the worst in terms of how they approach supervising other people.
Here is just.a sample of the things that puts bosses on the “good” side of the ledger…
Your boss reassures you.
Your boss does not micromanage.
Your boss appreciates your skills.
Your boss can take the blame.
Your boss is friendly and approachable.
Your boss can communicate effectively.
Your boss keeps meetings to a minimum.
Your boss focuses on small wins.
Your boss is an active listener.
Your boss does not know it all.
Your boss does menial tasks.
Your boss is prepared to coach.
Your boss gives immediate feedback.
Your boss creates a constructive atmosphere.
Your boss is flexible.
Your boss is not afraid of empowerment.
Your boss is empathetic.
Your boss is fair.
Your boss does not participate in office gossip.
Your boss stays cool in a crisis.
I once had a boss tell me work wasn’t supposed to be fun. I disagreed then and I disagree now.
I have very few photos of the three mothers in my life but I did find this one from a few years ago which seems fitting – both as a day to celebrate and also because it captures how wild and crazy all these ladies are!
Shea’s parents got a new fridge recently so we ended up with an old one they had (long story but not the old one that was in their kitchen – a different one they had) which they offered for us to use in our garage as a second fridge.
We got it moved in the other day and I immediately loaded it with beer but Shea put a quick stop to that and reminded me we also needed to have room for other so-called essential items such as “milk” and “lunch kits” and “juice for the kids”. 😉
We’ve been at this for over a year so I thought I’d make a bingo card to capture some of the most common shared experiences many of us have had during the past year or so.
I got a full bingo (but I also made the card so that probably helped!) ;-).
