Warren, Manitoba, Canada

This will have to be another quick post because, for now, I'm on battery power only. We'll be able to fire up the generator in a little while if I'm unable to finish, but let's just see how fast I can type, shall we?

We left Wasagaming yesterday morning and drove east across Manitoba toward Winnepeg. It was raining hard for the first couple of hours, but then the weather cleared and the day ended in beautiful afternoon sunshine. Because of our drippy windows I didn't take many pictures. In truth, there really wasn't much to see. The image below pretty much epitomizes our day's drive.

The occasional lonely tree on an otherwise flat landscape. Every so often, there were a few ripples, as below.

And it was a rather short drive to our hosts for the night, Watersong Farms, a land-based trout and chicken farm.

As we turned into their driveway and approached our space for the night, this is what we saw. It is lovely here.

As Mike was backing up and getting level, I noticed we'd picked up a passenger.

As it turns out, the sky is filled with ladybugs right now, and they were attracted to the bright white of the fifth wheel. Soon, there were thousands of them. We were careful, but still managed to let a few inside.

The owners are the most delightful people. We'll forgive them for their dog.

Smitty, on the other hand, did his best impression of Yoda.

Oh...a stupid woofie you are. Mess with me, and sorry you'll be. Claws I have. Afraid to use them, I am not.

I stood back and took this picture. We're on a lovely grassy pad with lots of tall trees.

Shortly after arriving, Mrs. Farm (I'll avoid using her name) took us on a tour of their place. They first showed us their land-based trout farm. Inside this large barn live approximately 40,000 steelhead trout and a few Arctic char.

Peer into the water, and you can see them swimming.

There is also another very large barn housing approximately 6,500 chickens. As we walked toward their farm store, I turned around and took another shot of the RV so you can see where we're parked for the night.

This is their farm store, closed today, but that is part of our obligation for staying here. This is our second host, and we have been very pleased with the terms of this deal. We can pay for a night of camping at a traditional RV park and then drive away with nothing. Or...we can camp for free and partake of whatever product is involved and drive away with some great stuff...great stuff to follow.

Okay...running low on battery. I'll finish in a bit.

Okay...I'm back. Did you miss me? Anyway...inside the farm store there were lots of funny signs. And remembering that this is a trout AND chicken farm, this one gave me a chuckle.

Recall that our obligation to our hosts is to purchase something from them, we found all of these items in the store delightful. Here, you see some chicken sausage, trout burgers, trout jerky, trout fillet, and smoked trout. All delicious.

So, we're breaking the rules a little bit by staying here two nights with our hosts' permission. They are the nicest people, and invited us to spend the evening in their gazebo with them. We took one of the bottles of wine we purchased in Montana and had a very nice evening chatting about so many things. We were particularly interested in their trout farming operation. They explained to us that a land-based fish farming operation will always receive the highest ratings for sustainable farming because the fish are never exposed to wild populations and so those risks are avoided. It's a lot to go into, and so I won't do it here, but the take away from this paragraph is that these are lovely people, and we've really enjoyed our time here so far.

Today we're driving into Winnepeg just a few miles down the road. We'd like to see a little of the city. Also, there are lots of breweries there, and we always try to pick up a t-shirt for our son. He has a birthday coming up. Also, there are four quilt shop listings in town. We won't visit all four, but for sure at least one is going to be on our agenda. It's only the third time this trip that we've stayed two nights in the same place, and so the rest and relaxation is always welcome.

Miss Sadie continues to keep us on our toes. Now that she's been out of the RV, she seems to have learned that "out" is a possibility. We're keeping an eagle eye on her to avoid having her escape out the door, but it's causing us a lot of angst. And, being human, our attention spans are limited and sometimes we forget the risk. Forgetting even for a moment, and she could be out the door in a flash.

As an example, we've been having trouble with our water heater. Yesterday Mike was outside looking at it and came to the door to ask me to pass him a couple of paper towels. We're trying to establish a habit of always asking if it's safe before opening the door. Nevertheless, he had the water heater on his mind and flung open the door without thinking. Fortunately, Ms. Houdini wasn't at the door, but had she been...she would have been out and gone.

So yesterday, I took a shot of this stop sign, and we're going to print it and tape it to the outside of the door as a reminder to use caution when opening. She's chipped, and so we feel we're doing everything we can to keep her safe and contained, but the best laid plans, you know...

Anyway...not to worry you, but we remain vigilant.

So that's all I have for you today. We're expecting nice weather most of the day, but the rain is supposed to return later this afternoon. Thus far, the weather has been fairly cooperative, raining when we're driving, sunny when we want to get out and see something.