Happy Holidays

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the very best for 2010.

Campground ratings

So Luc and I were at the Nova Scotia Quality Visitor Services Society’s AGM on Sunday, November 29th. They are responsible for developing, and rating programs for accommodations and campgrounds in Nova Scotia.

Quality Visitor Services (QVS) is an independent, non-profit society delivering nationally accepted quality programs to assist the traveling and vacationing public.
QVS assists Nova Scotia accommodation operators in developing, maintaining & improving their accommodations in areas that are meaningful to the traveller while improving thier competitive position in the worldwide tourism industry.
QVS offers three national programs; Canada Select for Hotels, Motels, B&B’s etc; Camping Select for Campgrounds; and Access Canada for standards for people with special needs and disabilities.

Our campground is a member of Camping Select. We had a choice of that or the CAA program. I don’t know CAA for accommodations just doesn’t seem right, and I’m not sure how much clout the CAA program has for campgrounds.

Where would you go looking for a recommendation for a campground? CAA or Camping Select?

Our Camping Select ratings are 2.5 for facilities and 2 for recreation. Compared to other campgrounds in the area (South Shore), we are better than average. (Average for facilities is 2.36 and 1.33 for recreation) I think that’s pretty cool.

If you are interested in reading up on the campground standards, here is the link

http://www.qvs.ca/myfiles/Campground%20Criteria.pdf

Leonid Meteor Shower

Well I'm a little late with this information but maybe you might find something interesting about it anyway.

The Leonid Meteor Shower makes it's appearance every year in November with November 17th and 18th being the busiest. This year the high time was the wee hours of November 17th. Like 3am to 5am. It was predicted that there would be between 3 and 4 hundred meteors an hour. No. I didn't get up to see. But I did however see a meteor last night about 9pm. We may see little straglers for the next couple of nights.

Did you know...

• The Leonids are so named because they seem to originate from the constellation Leo.
• The actual comet name is Temple-Tuttle
• It has an intensity cycle of 33 or 34 years
• The meteors from the Leonids actually make a buzzing sound
• The shower was so intense in 1833 that people thought the world was ending.
• The size of the meteors from the Leonids is the size of a grain of sand.

Some Info

We just got a call from Kevin Beanland.

They are going to be playing at Farrell Hall in Dartmouth on New Years Eve.

Tickets are $20 per person or $35 per couple.

If anyone is interested let us know and we can hook you up with some tickets.

The end of the season

Well here it is, the end of our first year as owners of the Lahave River Campground. The campground is all closed up for the season.

We learned a lot. We made a few mistakes. But most of all, we met some fantastic people and we had a blast.

We hope all our campers did too.

See you next May.

How to build your own camper

I stumbled across this website today...

http://www.mybigadventure.com/index.php?action=Build-A-Camper

It's instructions for building your own camper van. With pictures. I like pictures.

I thought it was cool, so I thought someone else might think it was cool too.

From this, a 15 seat passenger van...

To a camper van with bed, kitchen, table...

Christmas in September

What a great time. There was singing. And Santa made a visit. We topped the night off with some karaoke.

You can see the rest of the photo's here

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lahaverivercampground/ChristmasInSeptember

Merry Christmas

HOHOHO



It's Christmas at the campground this weekend.

*Photo taken from http://www.vintagetraveltrailerart.com/

Trailers get decorated. Santa makes a visit.

For kids / adults that would like to participate in the gift exchange, please supply a gift for the category that you fit in. child boy / child girl / adult man / adult woman . There is a $5.00 limit on gifts.

The festivities start in the shelter at 7:00 pm

Labour Day Weekend

What a great weekend we had. The weather was spectacular. We had a full house of campers. This place was hoppin' hoppin'.

On Saturday night we had the Miss Lahave River Pageant.

Here are all the contestants.















Here is the winner...

And our runner up...

After the pageant there was the variety show.

On Sunday morning we had the horseshoe tournament. Art and Dwayne won first place and Ross and Rodger took second.

We ended the weekend with a fantastic fireworks display.

If you would like to see more pictures from the Labour day weekend, here's the album on the web...

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lahaverivercampground/LabourDay#

Labour Day Weekend

I had a request to post some information about the long weekend, and had a couple of things to post myself, so here it is. All in one post.

On Sunday there is a Children's Variety show. Apparently in years past this ran concurrently with the horseshoe tournament. This year the variety show will be held after the horseshoe tournament. On Sunday.

Which leads me to my next point. The horseshoe tournament is on Sunday, NOT Saturday as I have previously posted. I'll have to go through my emails and correct the information I sent out. Oops.

Also, we have had a few cancellations and we have also added 7 more unserviced sites. So if you are interested in camping with us next weekend or you know someone who is, then give us a call. (902) 644-2654.

And to recap the activities next weekend.

Friday night - 7:30 pm - Bingo
Saturday - There is no bingo this afternoon.
- 7:00 PM - Adult Variety Show
Sunday - 10:00 am - Horseshoe Tournament
- BBQ Hot Dogs
- Childrens Events
- Fireworks at dusk

And if you are still reading, The Kevin Beanland band is playing tomorrow night (29th) in the Shelter. So come on out and listen to some music.

Hurricane Bill - Power outage

Just giving everyone a heads up that might read the blog that the power went out at the campground at about 3:45 this afternoon.

A little after 7pm NSP showed up to do an assessment. He told Luc that the maintenance truck would be another couple of hours. That they were currently in Mahone Bay. Had a stop on one of the Crossroads of a downed power line, and that the campground was the next stop.

I'll update this post when I hear anything else.

8:46pm - NB Power is there

9:10pm - We have power. YEA!!!!!

PSA: It's going to get windy

Regardless of whether Hurricane Bill makes landfall in Nova Scotia or not. There's a good chance it's going to get close enough to give us some really strong winds.

Here are some suggestions to prepare your trailer before you leave on Sunday.

1. If you have anything important in your trailer, take it with you.
2. Make sure your awning is rolled up.
3. Make sure that anything that can be blown away is secured to your deck or put inside.
4. In case of a power outage, if there is anything in your fridge or freezer that you don't want to lose, take it with you.
5. If you are here during or shortly after the hurricane, make sure to boil the campground water for one minute before drinking or brushing your teeth.

If anyone has any additional tips they'd like to add, feel free to do so in the comments.

If you would like to share your camping during Juan stories, or any other hurricane, I'd like to read them too.

PSA - Labour Day Weekend

I'd like to confirm peoples reservation for that weekend. We have a long waiting list, and we'd like to be able to accommodate them if people that are already booked are not going to be able to make it.

So...

If you have a reservation and have not yet confirmed please give us a call. (902) 644-2654
If you know someone that is booked for that weekend, can you either ask them to call us to confirm or provide us with their contact information so that we can call them.
If you are not able to make it, please let us know so that we can fill your spot.

We greatly appreciate your help in this matter.

Angela & Luc

Parade Day

Lahave River Campground had their annual parade tonight. We didn't have a huge turnout, but the parade watchers sure had a ball watching it.

Here are some pics.

The boys leading the parade with the Lahave River Campground flag

Luc chauffering our mascot, Burnie the Bear.

The ladies from the stitch and bitch showing off their wonderful quilts and afghans. They were even throwing candy to the crowd. No wonder they took first place.

Here are a couple of kids dressed up. One is dressed as a mexican, and I didn't catch what the other kid was dressed up as.

This is Richard and friend. He was a rice picker, and she was a bag of rice. They won third prize.

Some kids joined in the parade once it got under way.

Ah yes. Our second place winner. He was the wild thing. He got a big roar from the crowd.

That was our parade this year.

Lightning care

I know I'm behind in my posts, but I wanted to post this really quickly. As campers we really need to be aware of the danger of lightning, and what to do about it.

This article is posted in the Chronicle Herald today.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1137149.html

BRAMPTON, Ont. — Two young boys were rushed to hospital in critical
condition Wednesday after seemingly harmless overcast skies flared abruptly and
sent a lightning bolt crashing into a Toronto-area soccer field.
The mother of one of the boys, ages 4 and 6, was in stable condition following the
lightning strike in Brampton, Ont., some 45 kilometres northwest of
Toronto.

As part of that article there is some information and facts.

Here they are:

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

•Lightning is attracted to tall, isolated objects like trees.

•Metal does not attract lightning, but is a prime conductor, as is water.

•Two-thirds of all lightning strikes occur in June, July and August; most occur in the afternoon.

•The average lightning flash packs enough power to light a 100-watt light bulb for more than three months.

•A large proportion of lightning deaths occur in, on or near open water. Many people also die sheltering under trees.

•Nowhere outside is safe from lightning.


WHAT YOU SHOULD DO

•Heed the warning: "When thunder roars, go indoors!"
•Take shelter in a substantial building or fully enclosed, metal-topped vehicle. Avoid small structures such as beach cabanas or tents.

•When inside your home or other building, avoid using a corded telephone, except for emergencies. Cordless phones are safe.

•Avoid electrical appliances and plumbing. Don’t wash dishes or take a bath or shower.

•Practise the 30-30 Rule: When you see lightning, count until you hear thunder. If it’s 30 seconds or less, the storm is within 10 kilometres and dangerous. Seek immediate shelter. Wait 30 minutes after the lightning has stopped before going outside.

The band was awesome

Well, I have to say that a good time was had by all. The weather held out, and the evening was a smash.

The band was Running on Empty


Here are some pics.

Check out this green thumbs handy work

Lovely garden Sherman

Buzz Buzz Buzz

The campground was buzzing with activity this weekend. With the first sunny weekend in a long long time. Campers were taking full advantage of the activities that are available.

Saturday night was the yearly wahooey tournament. It's played with a board and marbles and a deck of cards. It sort of reminds me of the game Sorry. You have a starting position, and move around the board to get all of your marbles to your own finish position. Meanwhile the other players are trying to knock you back to your starting position. It looked like it was fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. Richard and Josh won the tournament this year. Congrats guys.

Our outdoor bowling lane got to see some action too over the weekend. It's a 10 candlepin lane.

The 9 hole minigolf was busy this weekend. Young and old love it.








The shuffleboard even got some use this weekend. It doesn't get used a whole lot, but when it does, people sure do have fun.







The kids love these. Stilts. There are 4 or 5 different sets of varying heights. These ones are the highest, and not for the faint of heart.

We don't break guitars at Lahave River Campground

HA HA. Have you guys seen this yet?

Dave Carroll from The Sons of Maxwell, was travelling with United Airlines last year and watched the baggage handlers throw his $3500 Taylor guitar around. Which of course broke it. He spent a year trying to get United to pay for the repairs and they refused.

He finally used what he knows best and wrote a song and posted the video to http://www.youtube.com/.

Last I checked there was 466,000 hits on the video and had gone up 30,000 hits just in the ten minutes we watched the video a couple of times.

It's a catchy tune, and the video is a riot and is bringing Sons of Maxwell lots and lots of publicity. Good for them, because they are a great band.

Anyway, for your listening and viewing pleasure, here's the video.

Weekend weather update

It could be some sick joke the meteorologists are playing on us, but it looks like we have some sun in our future. OK, I'll wait 'til you pick yourself up off the floor before I continue.

Are you ok now?

Here it is...

The farmers almanac says the 6th to the 11th is supposed to be sunny and warm. meh. It's the 8th already and it is neither sunny nor warm. I had to turn the heat on in the car today. brrr.

Neptune and Jupiter will be hanging around the moon on Friday night. Pluto and Saturn will also be in the sky Friday night as well.

Ellen makes the news again

http://www.southshorenow.ca/archives/2009/063009/news/index008.php

INDIAN POINT - Ellen Hunt used her body to protect a lighter's flame to set a sacred herb on fire. As soon as the smouldering sweetgrass bellowed smoke from the small receptacle she held in her hand the smudging ceremony began.
In an effort to bless and remove negativity from everyone who gathered at Indian Point, Ms Hunt used an eagle feather attempting to waft smoke onto each person.
The smudging ceremony took place on a special occasion on the morning of June 21. Not only was it National Aboriginal Day, this day also marked the culmination of five years of work by the Mi'kmaq Burial Grounds Research and Restoration Association. Its goal is to permanently recognize Mi'kmaq ancestors who are buried throughout Lunenburg County, including at Indian Point.
"It's for the community. It is for us," said Ms Hunt about the erected stone. "Bless our monument that represents our Mi'kmaq people who are buried at the point."
Through records it was discovered that members of the Cope and Pennal families are known to have been buried at Indian Point. Many of those buried died in LaHave and other settlements in Lunenburg County.
The stone panel at the site includes not only the names of the deceased interred at the burial ground, but also a survey map completed in 1786 by Charles Morris showing the site.

Taco Salad

This was soooo yummy. And so easy to make.

I had a taco salad at Wendy's last week and it was so yummy that I thought I'd give it a try camping. It is one of those meals that doesn't take long to cook. It takes minimal ingredients, and kids love it because they get to dig in with their hands. And really. Who doesn't love nachos and dip.

First step is to make chilli. Or if you are prepared, you made it at home and froze it, to keep other food in your cooler cold.

1 lb of ground beef
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of crushed tomatos
1 pkg of chilli seasoning.

Brown the ground beef. add the kidney beans (drained), the tomatos and the seasoning. Heat it up, and you have chilli.

I also added onions when I cooked the beef. You could add chopped green peppers too, if you are so inclined.

For the rest of the salad, you will need

1 head of lettuce, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
shredded cheese (chedder or nacho blend)
1 jar of salsa
1 container of sour cream.

To put it all together

Put down a layer of lettuce, tomato on top of that, then a handful of the cheese.
Put a couple of spoonfuls of chilli on top of that.
Top with a spoonful of sour cream and salsa.

Eat it up with the nacho chips. Well, ok, you can use a fork, but where's the fun in that.

The Golden Girls

Yes. We do. We have our very own Golden Girls.

These ladies get together on Saturday night and have a little party with their hats.

A different hat and a different trailer each Saturday night.

Wait a minute.

That's not a Golden Girl.

In other news....

We have our new road signs up. Campers shouldn't miss them now.

The Big Dipper

Everybody loves looking at the stars. I'm sure we all will enjoy it more once we actually get to see them, instead of clouds. I thought I'd start a series on constellations and other celestial bodies. What they are, what they look like, where they are, and some folklore that surrounds them.



There are 88 common constellations in the night sky. The first constellation I'll talk about is the Big Dipper. It's the most recognizable constellation in the sky. Where other constellations are only seen during different seasons, in the Northern Hemispere, the Big Dipper can be seen all year round.



The Big Dipper is known as different names in different countries. Ursa Major is latin for Great Bear. It's also known as The Plough, The Butcher's Cleaver, The Great Bear and Carl's Wagon.

The Big Dipper is made of 7 stars. Three make the handle of the dipper and 4 for the pot. By following a line from Merak and Dubhe, the outside stars of the pot, you can find the North Star. If you are standing facing the North Star, you are facing North. Ship Navigators have been using the North Star to guide them for centuries.

In Greek mythology, it is said that Zeus swept Kallisto, who had been turned into a bear by Zeus' jealous wife Hera, and her son Arcus into the sky. Kallisto is the Great Bear, and Arcus is the Little Bear (Ursa Minor)

In Native American folklore, three brothers were hunting the Great Bear. After the kill, and they were preparing their meal, the brothers looked to the sky and saw that the Great Bear had used it's magical abilities and rose to the sky, and so the three brothers gave chase again. The handle of the dipper are three brother hunters, chasing a bear, the pot.

Using the Big Dipper as a starting point we are able to find most of the other constellations.

Call the POOOO-lice

The golf cart's been stolen.

The suspect is about 5'8", blonde hair. Last seen driving a green golf cart, and driving around Lahave River Campground.

If you see the suspect make sure to approach him.

REWARD: A good time to be had by all.

Just a little shout out

I just wanted to send out a congratulations to John Snyder.

John is one of the top ten finalists in the CMT Karaoke star for Halifax. The competition took place on June 16th and 17th at the Rodeo Lounge.

If you were hanging out at the shelter on the Saturday night that we had the company campout. John brought his guitar, joined the rest of the gang and sang along and entertained us for awhile.

Congrats John, and good luck with the rest of the competition.

If you are interested in following the competition and online voting, log on to http://www.cmt.ca/kstar

Foil packets

aka bacon makes everything taste better. HA.



I've always had problems with foil packets. Especially with potatos. They always, always, always stick to the foil and you end up either eating foil (so gross) or wasting half of the potatos. It doesn't matter how much I prepared the foil with butter or oil or precooked the potatos, they always stick.



The cure, is bacon. I still get a few stuck, but nowhere near wasting half of them. I just chop up a few slices of bacon and put some down before I put the potatos and whatever else I'm putting in the packets, and then put some on top. And the bacon flavour really does well mixed with the veggies too.



In my foil packets I usually put potatos, onions, bacon and cheese. mm mm good.


Other suggestions for foil packets are;


mushrooms and onions
chicken and corn
meatballs, peppers and onions
peaches and maple syrup
apples and brown sugar
ham and pineapple rings
Sausage patty, frozen hash browns and egg
salmon, ranch dressing, veg
salmon, maple syrup and veg



Let me know how your foil packets turn out.

The bathrooms have great acoustics :-P

You know what they say about singing in the shower. Well the women's bathroom was just a ringing with the tunes last night. HA. Barb, Debbie and Melanie decided to regale us with their rendition of Delta Dawn. Great job ladies. Grand Ole Opry here you come.

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky

She's forty-one and her daddy still calls her "baby"
All the folks around Brownsville say she's crazy
'Cause she walks around town with a suitcase in her hand
Looking for a mysterious dark-haired man

In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn
Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on
Then a man of low degree stood by her side
And promised her he'd take her for his bride

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky

Campfire guitar songs

I thought I would put together a list of songs to sing around a campfire and play guitar too.

The requisites are that the songs have to be songs that most people would know.

Here's what I have so far. Add your own in the comments, I'd love to hear what you like to play and sing.

1. The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
2. American Pie
3. Cats in the Cradle - Cat Stevens
4. Margaritaville
5. Country Roads
6. Hotel California
7. Sweet Home Alabama
8. Brown Eyed Girl
9. Here Comes the Sun
10. King of the Road
11. Bobby Magee
12. It's Hard to be Humble
13. Blowing in the Wind
14. If I had a Hammer
15. Sloop John B

Lots of happenings this past weekend.

The weather sure did cooperate for Neocon this weekend. It rained Friday night overnight, but Saturday was rain free. And today was beautiful. A sun shiny bright day.

There was campfires and guitar playing and lots of great conversation. And the food. There was so much great food. If memory serves me correctly, Mike got the only yellow card of Friday evening. LOL.

Saturday had the adults playing horseshoes, and the kids playing mini-golf.

Even the shelter was hopping busy with guitar playing and singing on Saturday night.

On Sunday mornings, a group of the seasonal camping ladies get together for their Stitch and Bitch club. They make afghans and blankets and donate them to different organizations.

I'm sure I forgot a few things, but that's the jist of it, I guess.

Company Camping Night.

Neocon from Dartmouth, is having a social committee camping night on Saturday night at our campground. Barbecue. Roasted marshmallows. And I hear there might even be some guitar playing.

I hope they have a great time and that the weather is accommodating.

2009 Activities

Well the campers had their meeting to discuss the entertainment for this year. Here are the details.


* 50 / 50 tickets will be sold each week.
* Bingo in the shelter every Saturday at 1:30
* Book exchange will be held every Sunday from 10:00 am to 11:00 am
* The Stitch and Bitch club will also be stitching at bitching between 10:00 am and 11:00 am each Sunday morning.



June 6th -


June 13th -


June 20th - Crib Tournament - 7:00 pm


June 27th -


July 4th - Pot luck supper - 5:30 pm


July 11th - Wahooie tournament - 7:00 pm


July 18th - Yard Sale - 9:00 am to 12:00 pm


July 25th - Dance - Running on Empty 8:00 pm to 12:00 am


August 1st - Washer Toss Tournament - 10:00 am


August 8th - Auction 45 Tournament - 7:00 pm



August 15th - Parade 7:00 pm



August 22nd - Pot Luck - 5:30 pm


August 29th - Kevin Beanland Band 8pm


September 4th - Bingo 7:00 pm Friday instead of Saturday

September 5th - Horseshow Tournament - 10:00 am
- Variety show - 7:00 pm
- Children's Activities throughout the day

September 6th - Fireworks


September 12th - Kettle Boil 7:00 pm


September 19th - Christmas activities


September 26th -


October 3rd -


October 10th - Closing supper - 5:30 pm


***********************************************************

We are also trying to book a couple more dances throughout the summer. Maybe a Blazin' Barbecue and a game show night.


***********************************************************


We are also going to try a lot draw this year as well. If it works well, we will continue to do it. The jist of it is, that you buy tickets for $10.00. The winner will win their lot fee for next year. That's a minimum $1100 + tax prize. We will get that set up once we find out what is required through the gaming commission.


************************************************************


Check back to this list. I will be keeping it updated. You can find it on the left side under "2009 Activity List"


We will also have any changes posted on the bulletin boards through out the campground.

What's this?

OH OH!! OH OH!!

Wives beat husbands

2 games to 0

Frank, Harold and Freeman Don't want to talk about it.

Shame Shame.

Easy Pasta Salad

I'm all about quick and easy when it comes to camping and cooking. It really sucks to have to spend an hour cooking or barbecueing when you have guests or great weather or just plain old stuff to do.

Here's a really easy pasta salad recipe that doesn't take a lot of time, doesn't take a lot of ingredients, and if you are in the vacinity of a veggie stand, you get to contribute to the local economy by buying local produce.

Prepare your favorite pasta for as much as you need. A 900g box will do a large salad to feed probably 6 or 8 people. I like using penne or shells. Rotini would be good too.

Once it's cooked and drained toss in some grape tomatos and english cucumber chunks to your preference. Top with Sundried Tomato and Oregano dressing. Chill and you are good to go.