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.