Crater Lake

Catch Up

2006-03-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a while since I got on here. Some noteable events since Christmas. Jan's back is all healed up.I have had a Carotid Stent put in the left side to open up a 98% blockage. I need to have a valve replaced this summer when I get time. We sold the house in Georgia and can now do some of the improvements on the B&B. More later.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. December has been very slow, only one guest so far. We have several days scheduled for the end of the month, mostly skiing or snow shoing at Crater Lake National Park. I don't understand why more people are not taking advantage of the park in winter. It is open all year, has LOTS of snow and is just beautiful. We took advantage of the slow season to get Janet some very needed back surgery. Our daughter Penny came up from Georgia for a few weeks to help out and Janet's sister Sharon is here now for the duration of recuperation. They have both learned how to run a snowblower and are making noises about how they might like to move up here to snow country.

Where are you?

2005-11-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

I see it has been a month since I entered a new post here. It's not that I have been busy. On the contrary, business has been almost nil all month. Only 2 rooms so far and one more on the schedule at this time. Lots of family coming around Thanksgiving. If anybody is reading this, how about making a comment? I'd like to know if anybody is visiting this blog. MAC

Was I Wrong

2005-09-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

I am not a good prognosticator. September 2004 we rented 5 room nights. September 2005 we did NOT rent 9 room nights. That's a jump from 8.3% occupancy to 85% occupancy. I was looking for September this year to be little better than last year. Now I get to worry about how well we will do this October. They say if you can make it through the first two years, you will probably make it all the way. Ten and a half months to go.

Fast summer

2005-09-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here it is Sep. 10 and we have been full every night this month. Sadly, the guests from today that went up to the park said they had two inches of snow up there last night. It won't be long before business starts to drop off. Hope we get lots of skiers and snow shoes hikers.

By the way

2005-09-07T00:12:00.000-07:00

This is how the house looks after adding the railing to the front porch. Many thanks to the Carpenter Aunts from San Diego.

Good Old August

2005-09-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

AS you can see, it has been over two weeks since I wrote here. Part of the reason has been that business has been so good. We had almost 95% occupancy in August. The other part is that I could not tell if any one was reading this. No one ever sticks in their two cents worth or asks any questions. Luckily, a gentleman who was making a reservation mentioned that he had read my blog so now I feel that there might be others lurking out there. If so, feel free to jump in and talk to me.

September promises to be much better than our first September, maybe as much as 60 or 70% occupancy. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I don't know if I mentioned it but we are trying to sell our home in Georgia and if we do that, we will be able to last through the winter and do a lot of improvements that will enable us to increase business. More about that another time.

August

2005-08-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Things are going great. We got our first review by a guest on the TripAdvisor web site and it was very favorable. For the first 13 days of August, our occupancy was 92%!! Fantastic.

New Porch Railing

2005-08-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Jan's sister Sharon and her friends came up from San Diego for a few days and completed the railing on tho front porch. It is solid as a rock and really enhances the front view of the house. So far, (August 10th), we are at 82% occupancy for the month. We have only missed renting two rooms at this point. If it keeps up, we will have over 90% for the month. Fantastic!

WOW

2005-07-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

This is the 19th of July and we have already had 30+ room rentals. It's a good thing we have Thor here for a summer job or Jan would be laid out in the hospital with exhaustion. I don't have time to get the paper work done, much less find time for the newsletter I write for the local community. I'm having second thoughts about adding a third room.

Getting ready for August

2005-07-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

Spent today in town buying building supplies for when friends and relatives come for two weeks in August. Plans are to finish the front porch railing, then build a railing around the rear deck, next install low voltage lighting in front yard. Someplace in there, we really need to get a shower installed in the Oriental room where there is now just a jacuzzi tub.

More Busy

2005-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's 4th of July week and we are busier than ever. We have 100% occupancy almost every day for the next two weeks. The first of the cutting horse competitions starts tomorrow on the 4th and runs through the 10th or so. Jan is getting a real workout between room cleaning, breakfast cooking and yard work. We have a sort of nephew visiting for the summer and helping out. We may need part time help next summer.

BUSY BUSY

2005-06-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

Been too busy to post for awhile. Friends from San Diego came up and did lots of prettying up on the outside. The lattice work has been placed all around the house wherever there is a crawl space. A 4 foot lattice work fence now encloses the pump house and the first section of railing has been built on the front porch. They may come back in August to do the rest of the front porch and if time allows, get a start on the rear deck railing. While all this has been going on, we have had guests almost every night. Here is a link to our website. I have been meaning to add this for awhile.

Yard Work

2005-06-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

Still no lawn mower. After this, forget about the warranty unless the problem is major. We have been without the mower for ten days or so and no end in sight. Better to pay for minor repairs yourself than to be at the mercy of repair shops with their own agenda. Have some relatives and friends from San Diego up this week to help Janet with the outdoor work. So far they have put up a lattice work fence around the pump house. It improves the view a great deal and will be even better once Jan gets some flowering vines started. Next project is lattice work around the bottom crawl space under the porch and then a porch railing and flower boxes around the north and west sides of the house. If I can figure out how to put pictures on this blog I will show before and afters.

Easy Living

2005-06-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Got a lazy week going. Guest left Monday the 13th and next one in is Monday the 20th. Mower was picked up for repair last Thursday, called today and they say they will not even be able to look at it for a week. Too busy. Seems to me they should hire another mechanic. Even though the mower is under warranty, we may have to pick it up and get it fixed at our own expense. I'll think twice before I buy anymore equipment from Home Depot.

Same old same old

2005-06-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

Home Depot picked up the mower yesterday to take to repair shop for warranty work. Hope it's not gone too long. Have a guest in the middle of a 6 day stay now. He is competing in the working dog competition that is going on this week. Have a lady with 3 daughters coming in this weekend for 1 night. Jan found a door that will fit the pantry cabinet that we built into the hallway. We will put that in this afternoon.

New bird sighting

2005-06-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Janet spotted a Kingfisher yesterday. First time we have seen one since we moved here last August. She has seen him twice, sitting on top of a telephone pole overlooking our Koi pond. I hope he is not shopping for lunch. Had a call from a local rancher today who wants to put friends up for a week. Nice rental. Reservations for the summer are looking better and better. July is over 50 % occupancy already and August is not far behind.

Grass cutting trouble

2005-06-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

I spent the best part of the day working on our web site. I am just now remembering that I forgot to put a link on the site pointing to this blog. I can do that another day. Grass cutting was the order of the day today. The new mower has a problem . The linkage between the throttle handle and the throttle cable has worked loose and you can't control engine speed. Home depot is going to pick the machine up and have it repaired. I'd do it myself but lack of legs makes it hard to get down and dirty. Too bad because I have always been a tinkerer. You probably are wondering who cuts the grass. Jan, of course. Luckily, she likes to work outside. She shovels snow too. Whoever thought that losing two legs to diabetes could have an upside.

In the beginning...

2005-06-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is the first posting on my blog. I know nothing about blogging so you can laugh at me if you like. I'll be spending most of my time talking about our Bed & Breakfast but as time goes on I'm sure my mouth will runnaway with me and I could end up talking about anything under the sun. Our B&B can be seen at http://www.craterlakebandb.com