2008 - out, 2009 in!

Here at the River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast we'd like to take a minute to thank every single one of our guests that stayed with us during 2008 and wish everyone all the best for 2009!

Here are some highlights from 2008...

We'd like to thank Judy and Byron for lending us the use of their condo in Cabo San Lucas earlier this year (February). It was great to get away and it was a much deserved break - especially for Michelle.

In March we had a houseful of crazy curling fanatics and one pair in particular, George and Susan Philips from Garden Path Bed & Breakfast in Neepawa. We were also lucky enough to get out and see the final game. What a sight!

Some of the regular guests that we've had the pleasure of getting to know, cherish, laugh and spend time with are Ken & Gwen from Dryden for all the happiness they bring, Ann (and her fantastic harp playing) from Brandon, Celes "King of the Forest" for all the great discussions about everything: A to Z and his wonderful wife Susan, John and Alison who have really helped inspire thoughts of a greener existence and Marlene for her keen observations and wonderful demeanor. We've also gottne to know Janet from Scotland and

2008 out, 2009 in!

Here at the River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast we'd like to take a minute to thank every single one of our guests that stayed with us during 2008 and wish everyone all the best for 2009!

Here are some highlights from 2008...

We'd like to thank Judy and Byron for lending us the use of their condo in Cabo San Lucas earlier this year (February). It was great to get away and it was a much deserved break - especially for Michelle.

In March we had a houseful of crazy curling fanatics and one pair in particular, George and Susan Philips from Garden Path Bed & Breakfast in Neepawa. We were also lucky enough to get out and see the final game. What a sight!

Some of the regular guests that we've had the pleasure of getting to know, cherish, laugh and spend time with are Ken & Gwen from Dryden for all the happiness they bring, Ann (and her fantastic harp playing) from Brandon, Celes "King of the Forest" for all the great discussions about everything: A to Z and his wonderful wife Susan, John and Alison who have really helped inspire thoughts of a greener existence and Marlene for her keen observations and wonderful demeanor. We've also gotten to know Janet from Scotland and wish her all the best moving forward.

April saw a great springtime, just in time for Easter which was promptly followed by cooler weather in May - just as the pool was opening. As the pool was opening we had a chance to update and restore the sunroom which turned out to be a great hit with everyone this summer.

June had a great gaggle of ladies visit as Michelle's aunts, cousins and Grandma all managed to get together at the Inn for some quality time together. Fun times and lots of laughs!

In July we had a brick patio put in to finish off part of the landscaping around the new deck. We managed to find a supplier of re-claimed brick and after a little consideration we are so happy that we decided to go that route. It looks fantastic and certainly adds some character and class to an area that was filled with various uncomplementary items!

August saw the exterior of the River Gate Inn get some new paint. We are very happy with the results and once again thank our fantastic painters for an excellent job well done.

September saw the pool close (it's always a sad reminder that the cold weather is coming)but just before that happens - when all the leaves have changed colours - it's one of the most beautiful times of the year in the yard and the neighbourhood. Mid September to the end of October (and beyond sometimes such as this year) see all the wonderful fall colours and the green of the grass seems to stand out even more now that it's not competing with the green foliage on the trees!

Of course December is a fantastic time around the River Gate Inn as all the decorations and lights, the clean crisp snow and generally mild winter weather make for the best time of the winter. I guess during the Festival du Voyageur in early February with the skating path on the river maybe a very close second!

Thanks again to everyone and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2009! Happy New Year.

Keith & Michelle

Christmas at the Inn

Christmas time at the River Gate Inn is always a joyful and festive time. The Inn is decorated, lots of lights and the guests that stay during this time are always so great! Of course being in Winnipeg we also honour the Ukrainian Christmas which is happening on January 8th.

Those rascally rabbits...

The cute little bunnies that we all love seeing in the summertime seem to enjoy feasting on the foliage in our back yard. If anyone has suggestions on how to stop this from happening I would love to hear them.

Great Grey Owl Sighting

Just before Christmas I was outside working on adjusting the Christmas lights and two houses down the street I could hear some squeaking. After listening for a minuter or two I realized this was our neighbour playing with their dog. A little squeak here and there...it was pretty funny. This was around dusk. Suddenly I saw what turned out to be a great grey owl just coasting over my head, through our neighbour's yard and landing on the tree to observe. It was amazing to see the wing span and how smooth it flew. This is actually the third owl sighting in the last 3 years.

Heritage Bed and Breakfast Tour

Save the date on Friday December 7th and plan to get into the festive spirit. The Heritage Bed and Breakfast association is hosting its second annual Holiday Christmas tour in support of Osborne House women's shelter. This year four bed and breakfasts - River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast, Maison Grosvenor Bed & Breakfast, Fulham Castle Bed & Breakfast, and Galbraith House Bed & Breakfast are opening their doors to welcome in visitors and the Christmas Spirit. Each Bed and Breakfast have their own unique surprises but certainly one of the highlights will be Das Femmes singing Christmas carols at the River Gate Inn! If you have never heard these beautiful women sing you are certainly in for a treat...and speaking of treats - we'll also have some Christmas cheer for everyone coming. The cost is only $10 and gives you access to all four B & B's. Tickets are available at the door of each establishment.

Christmas is in the air...with the snow!

Yesterday Winnipeg really got it's first taste of Winter snow and the temperatures today certainly have snapped us into the reality that Winter is here! Lucky for me I managed to get most of the Christmas lights up and if you are staying at the River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast during December, you are in for a festive treat! Michelle was hard at work decorating the Inn. It's a little earlier than we would normally do it but things come up quickly here! And yes, we are open during Christmas.

Roughriders take down the Big Blue!

Well as much as it pains me to tell everyone that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost in the final of the Canadian Football league Championship yesterday to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. This looks suspicious but if any team had to beat my hometown Bombers I am glad it was the Saskatchewan Roughriders as I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and have a lot of relatives in Saskatchewan. I won't get into any of the jokes that surround the Labour Day classic and the Banjo Bowl, suffice it to say we congratulate the Roughies on their Grey Cup win. Winnipeg played a great game with a back up QB who had little experience in the CFL and Ryan Dinwiddie did a respectable job in his first ever start in the CFL. Next year Blue, next year!

New Roof

Well, it has been some time since I actually posted on the blog so there are a lot of things to add. Where to start? Well the biggest thing that has happened around the Inn was replacing the roof. We had the roof re-shingled and some minor repairs done. There was some delays due to weather, inconsistent roofing crew (??) and we had a hard time picking out the color. For those who care or want to know, we settled on Weatherwood. It is a little lighter tone than the old color and it has some brown, black and grey tones in it. We would have liked to go back to the original cedar shake roof but with the size and pitch of our roof the cost was just too prohibitive. We are very happy with the results and despite some disappearing roofing crews on days, Jade (was never missing and very reliable) who was contracted by BISON ROOFING did a great job. Now we are going to have to look at painting the trims appropriately. It might have to wait a little bit for that to happen though. There is a resting security in knowing the roof is good as new, was in great shape beneath and is properly vented now.

Fall time beauty!

It still amazes me how beautiful the area is when all the leaves start changing color. The fall time at the River Gate Inn is one of the best times to be here. I look out my window and see shades of orange, red, yellow, green, and everything in between. This year we have a number of garden mums throughout the yard and the contrast with the color and different leaves and berries all over the place really make for a beautiful scene. It might be one of the best times for our guests to come as well as October 1st of this year is the first year we have gone to a winter rate. With temperatures still occasionally creeping into the 20's, the smell in the air is incredibly refreshing and going for a walk may never be more inviting. Or sitting on the deck reading a good book can be very surreal at this time of year.

City Trees

The River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast would like to thank the City of Winnipeg for removing 3 trees that were leaning into our house and over our driveway. The three maple trees were a concern for safey for our guests parked at the front edge of our driveway and there was concern over the trees growing onto the top of the house for damage to the roof. The city is really overloaded with work in terms of maintaining the large number of city trees and this was by no means a short process. However the City of Winnipeg did a great job taking the trees down and they managed to help us stick to a timeline of starting to replace the shingles on our roof by clearing the trees out. Now the problem is that you can see all the damage to the existing car port and fence on that side of the house. Looks like another project for the spring time!

New Deck & Stairs

In August of this year, we re-surfaced the stairs down to the pool and the existing deck. We are very happy to have this done and it has made the area surrounding the pool and sunroom look so much more inviting and it certainly has been noticed by our guests. The changes to the decking and improved layout has translated into more use by our guests and even ourself. It seems as though the landscaping and yard improvements are never ending but we find it so rewarding. We like the way it looks and we certainly like the way people have enjoyed the improvements in the yard. We are not quite finished yet but it certainly appears as though we are getting closer to how we would like our yard to be. Next spring we'll be looking at the front of the house - this should be challenging because it is the North side and we'd like to add color if at all possible. Any suggestions for plants that might work?

River Bank Preservation?

Anyone that lives along a river knows that keep the riverbank intact can be quite a challenge and so it goes for us. Our locations really is advantageous as we are just around the bend at the back of Armstrongs Point and the way the water flows it really appears that the opposite side of the river has more to be concerned with. However, this summer we had a tree come down along the river and so did our neighbours Doug and Irene. I notice that Doug and Irene are coming up more in the blog - they really are great neighbours and we love living beside them as well as our other immediate neighbours and some of the people on the neighbourhood as well. Armstrongs Point really is a unique and special community to live in.

Back to the riverbank...so after looking into a number of possibilities (and still looking) we were most concerned with the cost, look afterward and the ability to access the area for any plan to work. We decided on planting Willow trees at the suggestion of my sister and brother in law. They were also instrumental in helping provide us with the willow trees as they own a large property in rural Manitoba. Through the shelter belt foundation (I think it's a foundation), rural properties larger than a certain size are able to economically purchase large volumes of tree saplings. We were fortunate enough to receive about 50 Willow saplings they had left over after they finished planting. It looks as though a number of them have taken so only time will tell how well this idea works.

Stone Patio

A couple of guests have commented on the limestone patio that we added to the West side of the house. I thought it might be a good idea to post an update since some of the guests that saw the whole work in progress may find it interesting to know that yes - it is completed now and was done some time in June of 2007. This was much more work than I expected but was so worth it. Just a little recap - we had to remove a 180 year old Basswood tree because it was actually hollow. It was sad because the tree was incredibly big, perfectly shaped and from the outside it was hard to tell that it was very dangerous to have the tree standing. Once the tree was removed it created a lot of space and it happens to be that this area gets the most afternoon and evening sun. To take advantage of this sunshine we took large pieces of limestone from the quarry in Garson, pieces that were lying around the yard and some extra pieces from our neighbour after they completed a limestone patio and created a 30 foot by 7 foot sitting area. The limestone from our neighbour was actually off the facade of the Winnipeg Convention Center when it was renovated so it's pretty cool to have that make up some of the materials for our patio. Some of the pieces were 5 or 6 inches thick and it was quite a task. Again, our neighbour Doug came up with the finishing touch of adding some coloured brick around the RGI we had planned to put into the middle of the patio. All in all, it took longer than I expected but the results are really great. The bistro chairs and tables make the look great and we've had a number of people enjoying the area as a quiet place to read or chat a bit.

Summer time fun

This summer the pool was used much more than in the previous two summers since Michelle and I have owned the River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast. It became really evident as we had to fill the pool up with more water at least 4 times in August. In our first summer, it was because the pool liner had some leaks. Replacing the pool liner in 2006 was an expensive venture but well worth it and it has really shown with the number of people enjoying the pool. Not only have people (including ourselves) found the pool to be more aesthetically pleasing, but using it really has been much more enjoyable. Our neighbours Doug and Irene have also helped make using the pool better. There was a tree in their yard that had three limbs. All three limbs extended into our yard, over the pool and subsequently blocked out some of the sun coming through. Now there are fewer leaves, more sunshine and the pool stays warmer easier. Looking forward to many more years of enjoying that fantastic pool!

It's been a long time...

Wow, I just noticed that I haven't posted anything on the River Gate Inn blog for quite some time. It must be because there hasn't been anything going on around here...anyone that has visited the River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast knows that is simply not possible!

Let me reflect on the past couple of months and recent happenings to post a flurry of updates.

Cheers.

Countries Visited

I came across this link from one of my friends on Facebook. I thought it was kind of neat and decided to punch in all the countries, states and provinces I have visited. This is something I had talked about doing on a map for a couple of years now. The link is travbuddy.com if you want to do the same.

World Visited

Deer at the Inn?

We have always said that there is quite a bit of wildlife around the Inn - especially for being so close to downtown Winnipeg. Yesterday was a first for the River Gate Inn Bed & Breakfast though as there were two deer in our front yard! Michelle tried hard to get a good clear picture but they were a little spooked and none turned out. Add them to the list...very cool!