Our first overnighter, and the parking restriction is in effect.

I managed to get the Bike Trailer to work .. but there was a few major problems ..

* the front is slanted and not much room for the dogs .. (I ended up removing that sling where the baby straps on)

* There are some broken or missing pieces where the flaps go and velcro is (I ended up using a lock to hold two pieces together)

* I’m not sure about how it attached to the bike! (It attaches – but, there is no safety attachment – there was – but, it was broken off or eaten off?)

* There is a hole at the front of the chariot/trailer .. and the dogs could escape and tried to escape at first. That is trainable situation and the dogs got used to that over a couple hours of biking!

* There is a hole at the front fo the chariot/trailer .. and sand from the wheel and gravel roads was shooting inside at the dogs! It would have been fine, had they not try to rearrange the blanket we placed in there to stop them from trying to escape.

It needs work and parts. I have to come up with something by the long weekend – maybe with Velcro. All I can think of is something like a car’s front grill cover that covers the Rad so there is heat .. or a surgeon’s mask with stretchy things or velcro attachments on each corner that covers the hole and attaches or ties together in the back.

I’m tempted to buy a new trailer .. they sell these “dog carrier” type of trailers at a local bike shop for around $300 plus taxes .. I already paid $90 for the crappy one we have – but, I’m not giving up on it yet. Here’s what a professionally built dog trailer should look like… I can get a new “chariot” type of kids trailer that might be better for the dogs for about $250 that folds up .. or $400 that is new. Regardless of what I do … I am now a permanent victim of the “I told You So” saying. (thinking I was crazy for getting a trailer to haul the dogs!)

I mean – I want to go bike riding while Yvonne jogs 6-12 KM every day .. but I can’t. The dogs bark like crazy left alone in the cottage, and give up because they get too tired or distracted walking or running along side us.

PS: Went Swimming for first time this year…. Refreshing! I need to work on my tan, lose a few pounds etc etc.. But, I tried that floating chair on styrofoam .. it’s A-O-K!

Rather than borrowing my folks’ MiniVan again – I decided that I would just take apart the BBQ box and line the bottom of my trunk with all the parts. I was quite familiar with the parts now! And, it fit.

In my quest to purchase online a used Baby Bike Trailer that I can use for the dogs .. I found that they were going fast, and got tired of getting turned down and waiting. We ended up buying a used one from a Hutterite that was in worse condition that it looked like originally, and up close (hindsight – see next week)

Anyway, today was my brother Brad’s birthday and we were combining Father’s Day and his birthday on Sunday. We didn’t want to stay long at the cottage. I assembled the BBQ in about 1-1/2 hours (compared to about 3-1/2 hours the first time) .. and just dropped off the “DOG-Trailer” in the corner for now.

* RESTRICTION STARTS 0:01 FRIDAY JUNE 22, 2007 beginning of day – until September 4th .. meaning that no cars are allowed inside the restriction zone of Victoria Beach.

PS: Yvonne cut most of the grass .. I cut the front part, that leans towards the lake …

PPSS: The lake was still low – and there was about 3 feet of beach.

We weren’t planning to spend the day at Victoria Beach, as it was quite busy for me in the upcoming week .. (deadline for self-employed personal tax returns) – but I borrowed my folks’ MiniVan and filled it up with some goodies before the restriction starts for parking.

I brought out:

* ONE LARGE BBQ – Santa Fe “Fiesta” model, from Walmart ..
* TWO Inflatable Kayaks – from Canadian Tire, with 2 Kayak paddles
* TWO Lounge Chairs from Walmart..
* A Floating Beach Chair cased in Styrofoam from Yvonne’s friend!

I was just going to drop it off, but Yvonne wanted to jog – so I assembled the BBQ. Can you believe it? At the last minute – the part to attach to the propane tank was broken, and it didn’t work. We ended up putting it all back into the MiniVan, fully assembled, with the large box it came in, with all the wrappings and packaging.

On the way back into town, we went straight to the Walmart store and exchanged it for a brand new one. It took about 30 minutes in total – we found a really helpful guy and a flatbed wheeler who sped things up immensely! We even took that old superheavy 1970’s TV that didn’t work into town, and asked him to junk it and he hauled it away for us.

So – Now I had another BBQ (in a HUGE Box sitting in my living room for another week)

It’s that time of the year, and we went to the cottage on Sunday for the day – it was 27c and no clouds.

* My left forearm is totally sunburt
* My forehead and nose it as red as a rose
* As for the rest of my body .. some color with a “Farmer’s Tan”

And to quote Maxwell Smart from the famed TV show “Get Smart” …

Aaaaaaaandddddd……?

Loving it.

Karen & Warren et all were out there Saturday and Sunday and did most of the work cutting grass and raking and opening up the cottage .. The TV blew up last year during an electrical storm (we believe) and we agreed that he would pick up a cheap 20″ TV from Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire and a cheap DVD Player. This week, I will be picking up a new BBQ to compensate difference. That old one not only SUCKS .. there was only 1 place where the propane was shooting out .. it was quite a challenge to BBQ anything (although not impossible). We just figured – enough was enough .. quit complaining about it and do something about it.

Should be a nice warm Summer! While I’m getting the new BBQ .. I will be sourcing some cheap Kayaks .. they look like fun 🙂