48 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Monday is my first day this week of work, just like most people. I started it by saying good-bye to our last customers of the week. Then I went around to make sure all the cabins were "off" for the week until Friday. Friday is when our first weekend customers arrive. I turned off the hot water, refrigerators, heaters, gas to the ovens and unplugged all the microwaves. Believe it or not, they take up a lot of juice just when they're sitting there.

I will have to clean the Birch cabin myself before Friday but that's no big deal. I took up their garbage and turned off the cabin's stuff too even though I will not need hot water when I clean it tomorrow.

The customers who were supposed to be here this week called finally. We were wondering if they had come, seen the cabin, and then left. It turns out the wife is extremely sick and in the hospital. They apologized for not calling sooner. Wow. Hopefully she will be okay. We will be sending back their deposit soon even though they didn't cancel sooner. We weren't full this week so we didn't turn anyone away for that cabin. In those cases, we return deposits. If they had cancelled from a full week, and we weren't able to fill it, then they wouldn't get their deposit back.

I saw a chipmunk sitting on the front stoop of Cedar cabin today. It sat and watched me as I walked right past it to the cabin. I have a feeling that customers have been feeding it. Usually they aren't that brave.

The cleaning girls did a great job on the cabins yesterday. The only thing I found that was not right was that there were 2 dirty forks in a dishwasher. Everything else was spotless so thanks, girls, if you're reading this.

John sat down at the desk today and rarely left it. He spent most of his day doing paperwork, filing reports, and going through mail. I have a feeling that within a year that I will be doing the paperwork. It will be my turn again.

After I finished with the cabins, I made lunch then started on the basement. I have to make room for the 12 sewing tables that will be coming soon for our quilt retreat. Our basement is also supposed to be our garage, but hasn't been used for such since I moved in. I guess I brought too much stuff with me (as well as my 2 kids and dog). Anyway, I filled up a trailer full of broken stuff, garbage and junk for our dumpster. I have a separate pile for stuff to take to the resale shop - an old school desk, picture frames and a bug catcher. I loaded our empty (no seats) minivan with all the extra lumber that has been taking up room in the basement. Tomorrow I will take the lumber up to our lumber pile in the back of our property. I will cover it nicely with all the ends of the boards flush on one end. That way we can see what size board it is before we try to pull it out. The pile is huge. I don't know why we keep accumulating more of the stuff in the basement every year. Its like the lumber is multiplying or something.

By the time I was finished, I was ready for a swim so I joined our neighbors and John at the beach. The sun was still shining, the water was refreshing and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards John, Steve and I sat by the beach as we each drank a beer and talked. Steve's girls were swimming and having a great time jumping off our raft. It was fun and the girls had a great time too. Our dog, Senna, kept diving under the water to find rocks the girls would throw for her. She's a funny dog to dive after rocks. Everybody gets a kick out of her.

Now its the first night without customers since May. The summer flew by.

47 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Its Sunday again and I had to go to church because I was serving the communion. When I left, John had just gotten up. His shoulder is sore and he is very tired. An entire week of kayaking has caught up with him. He slept in.

I woke up at around 4:45 a.m. to the sound of a car turning around by one of our cabins. We were expecting customers from Iowa so I thought it was them. Then they left so I wondered if it was them. John got up too and got the telephone just in case they tried to call us from town or something. The customers never showed up so we wonder what the deal is.

The cleaning girls came around noon. They cleaned the Ironwood, Hemlock, Cedar and Maple cabins. I am so very glad I don't have to clean them by Friday all by myself. I will have to clean Birch cabin since the customers decided to stay another day. They are the only ones here at the resort right now and it is very quiet.

We had a lot of customers leave today and they were going in and out of the lodge all day. Both of the kids who were here didn't want to leave and just about drove their mom crazy by delaying their departure in almost every way possible. Their dog didn't want to leave either and each chance she got, the dog would run down to the beach for one last swim. They're going to be smelling wet dog all the way home.

We had a very fun week and had a lot of pot luck suppers. The weather was great which was good for kayaking and swimming. There was football or baseball on almost every night so the lodge had a small party going every night. We shared responsibilities of cooking with other customers and we had so much food, that I need to go on a diet. I think the kids who were here are going to have a growth spurt now from all the good food.

I got to sew a little today for the first time since June. I am working on a quilt for someone who is getting married. I am getting excited now about our quilt retreat too. Tomorrow I will work up a little ad that I will try to send via e-mail again to quilt guilds across the state. The first time it didn't work, but I will try again.

So now its very quiet for the first time all summer. Its hard to believe that our summer is over even though it is still very warm out and beautiful. Schools start way too early for vacation businesses. Illinois schools started last week already and that hurts all the vacation businesses around here. Wisconsin schools start this Wednesday, Sept. 1st. That makes more sense to me.

Our dog, Buddy, fell down 4 stairs today. His back legs gave out on him. He's okay since he walked around to the ramp to get in, but must be failing. We are giving him a lot of pain medicine so hopefully he's not in pain at least. Our neighbor, Harry, had to put his dog, Rex, down yesterday. Rex was 15 years old and a lot worse than Buddy. Its so sad when you put an animal to sleep. Hopefully Buddy will get better when the weather cools down a little. He really doesn't like the heat.

I really did have a relaxing day today even though I made 4 bags of laundry, did 2 loads of laundry and stripped sheets from 4 cabins. That was easy. It is nice to have an easy Sunday for a change. Tomorrow is back to work on the basement. Wish me luck.

41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Oh my gosh! I cannot believe how time has flown since Tuesday. I have never let the blog go this long and I am very sorry, readers!

Thursday and Friday there was more kayaking. Friday John took a group up to Lake Superior and went from Saxon Harbor out to Little Girls Point. There they swam a little, rested, ate some snacks, and then paddled back to the starting point. They saw deer, eagles and had beautiful views of the cliffs and scenery. Thursday John took a group down the Manitowish Chain. He started at the Pea Patch and then went down to the Wayside. It took them about 5 hours from start to finish. Everyone was very tired but they really enjoyed their trip. They saw a lot of wild flowers, birds, turtles and a deer. Friday John kayaked up stream all the way to Shay Dam with a few customers. The water is so high this year that this is the first time he's ever been able to do that.

I stayed back at the resort for the most part. John enjoys kayaking very much. His shoulder is sore, especially at night when it is at rest. Hopefully he will be able to rest it a lot now and it will get better. I stayed at the resort this week to be here for customers who stayed behind. There were always a few who stayed. So I felt better being home. I love our home and I don't mind staying here when they are out kayaking. I hate to say it, but sometimes kayaking seems like a lot of work. Most of the time it is very fun, the scenery, the time spent with customers/friends, but other times I just keep thinking of the stuff I have to do at the resort, and then I don't enjoy it so much. I need to get over that. I need to learn how to relax and enjoy the simpler things in life more. John told me that I should do something fun every day.

When I first moved here, I felt overwhelmed by all the work there was to do. I used to say that no matter what direction I pointed to that there was something to do there. Now I try not to notice so much. The amount of work to do around here could make someone go crazy if you felt you had to get it all done as soon as possible. John taught me to take it easy and just do what we can in the time we have. Most of our time should be spent making sure our customers have a great vacation. We should take the time to talk with them, offer them things to do, take them on guided outings, etc. I try to do this but I still have to do some work every day. I don't feel right if I don't accomplish something every day. But Sunday is my day of rest or else I would get burnt out. Sunday I try not to do anything but rest, read, sit on the beach or take a walk in the woods. If I don't allow myself one day of "rest", I found out that I will feel burnt out pretty quick.

You may ask how much stuff can there be to do? Well, I thought I would point toward the southeast section of our resort and look. Just at random, pointing to the southeast, I see a lot that needs to be done. There lies our horseshoe pits which need new logs behind the stakes, more sand brought in, have to find the rake that's gone again, have to paint the stakes orange again, have to look for dog poop around there, have to move turned-over boats out of the way that are encroaching, have to mow the grass around there and have to pick up the branches that have fallen in the way. Don't get me wrong, the horseshoe pits are still being used by customers, they just need a little sprucing up. This is just a sample of the never-ending work that could drive a person a little crazy.

John taught me that our customers don't necessarily care if the place is spotless and everything is in perfect order outside. They want their cabin to be perfectly clean, of course, but the things like more sand in the horseshoe pit, aren't that necessary. We can do them later but for now we need to talk with the customers, take them on outings and make their days as fun as possible. He's right because it has been working for many years. He and I work perfect together that way. I get all bent out of shape with all the work that has to be done, and he calms me down. Then he notices the things that need to be done because I mentioned them, and then he and I will make time for them later in the season.

This is where I'm going with the above paragraph. The season is getting later. It will be time to work very soon. I started working in the garage recently to make some room. We will be having sewing tables delivered any day and I need the space for all 12 of the five feet by 2 feet tables. Hopefully they can be stacked on top of one another. I will be having a quilting retreat here soon and I have to prepare. I got rid of 6 old chairs that were not repairable, that we had been storing in the basement forever. There are another 6 down there that I think I can repair. Regardless, I need to do something to make room for the sewing tables that are coming. Our basement is a catastrophe. John's brother tells his kids it's a scary basement. They used to be really scared to even go down to look at the basement it was so scary. You really have no idea.

Our basement consists of all the previous owners' left overs. Anything and everything that the previous owners didn't want, tried to repair or replace and all that they didn't know what to do with is down there. Then John moved in, then his friend, Tom stayed for awhile and left stuff, then I moved in with 2 kids, then my grandmother moved into a nursing home and we got her extra stuff, then John's parents sold 2 vacation houses and gave us extra stuff, then his grandparents' house sold and we got more stuff. It is very scary. I have a lot of work ahead of me. There I go again.

Today we had two old friends come over who we hadn't seen in 2 years. It was a lot of fun to see them and we enjoyed their company, had a pot luck style dinner again, and talked for awhile. They had recently been on a trip to Turkey and brought us some Turkish coffee and some wonderful dates to eat.

This is the first Saturday of the summer we haven't had to clean any cabins. Tomorrow, Sunday, we will have a few cleaning girls come to clean at noon. We will have 4 cabins to clean only since the fifth is staying another night.

Now John and some male customers are watching football or baseball in the lodge. Every night this week there has been some sports game on or another and we've been in there late. During the day we've been preparing to and going kayaking. We've made big meals with a lot of customers pot-luck style almost every night. By the time the game is over every evening, its been pretty late and we crashed for the night. At first I thought this week would feel like vacation but its been pretty busy.

I've been starting to think about my sewing projects again too. I have a wedding quilt started, 2 twin quilts almost finished, 2 double quilts started and a bunch of beautiful fabric waiting for me to start something new. As the nights get colder, I also start to think about crafts. The colors are starting to change on the trees, and I am thinking of my fabric colors. Maybe tomorrow I'll start sewing again.

39, 40 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Yesterday I picked up the kayakers on our river, across from Ruggers Landing at a little boat landing. They had gone through 3 sets of small rapids and been out about 5 hours. One of the ladies in a kayak has a more severe type of disability in that she cannot hold much in her hands. So she could not hold a paddle or even clip on a seat belt in the car. John was worried about her going through the rapids in a kayak, but she insisted. She said, "You only live once." I will try to always remember that when I am on the fence about participating in something fun that might be a little risky. You only live once.

I took off the kayak trailer and drove home 3 people from our group. Then I picked up a manual wheelchair that one of our customers needed and drove back. She was patiently waiting and swatting off the mosquitoes. By the time I got back to the boat landing, John and a friend had loaded and strapped down the kayaks on the trailer I had left there. So it turned out all I had to do was drive. It was nice to not have to load up the kayaks. I also would have had to take 2 trips anyway because there was no way we all would have fit in one trip in our Toyota. It was only about 5 miles one way to the pick up point.

It was Monday and our last pot luck was supposed to be at 6:00 p.m. It was already after 5:00 p.m. and I hadn't the time to make anything. I had been in Ironwood doing errands all afternoon. I had to pick up supplies for the cleaning of the cabins, dog food, dog medicine and toilet paper, etc. So on the way to pick up the 2nd group, I stopped at a local restaurant, The Pines. I saw Erv and he and I jokingly talked while I ordered 4 pork schnitzel sandwiches and a caesar salad to go. I said I would be back to pick them up in 20.

When I arrived at the boat landing, they hooked up the kayak trailer. Then we loaded everyone in, and off we went without incident. We stopped at the Pines, picked up our food, and headed back to the resort. There were 3 customers waiting for the pot luck to start. At least I had prepared the lodge for us beforehand and set up the paper plates, plastic ware, napkins, trivets and pitchers for water. So we arrived 20 minutes late but with food in hand, which made it more bearable.

We enjoyed our last pot luck and after our meal, I provided chocovine wine, which is a chocolate wine after dinner drink. We sat out on the deck in the evening light and talked. It was fun.

Today, Tuesday, we had some customers leave early. They had arrived yesterday evening. The husband came into the lodge and said that his wife was unhappy and that they wanted to check out. This was devastating to me. The cabin they were in was spotless, had brand new, hand sewn, batik quilts with matching curtains, had the best view of the lake and was the smallest, which is what they wanted. I pressured him to tell me why they were leaving and kept asking him what was wrong with the cabin. He said it was just that his wife doesn't like it up north very much and that it wasn't our cabin at all. I offered another cabin to them, told them that we had several others to choose from, but he insisted. He said his wife was already packed. This hurt my feelings a lot and I know I shouldn't take it so seriously and that we cannot please everyone, but I still feel hurt.

I went into the cabin and checked everything and it all seemed fine. I stripped the sheets because laundry was being picked up today. I went into the basement and loaded all the laundry into the large, white laundry bags and dragged them over to the large door. There the laundry will pick them up, as well as the laundry cart which I also hauled by the bags. This is probably going to be our last laundry pick up for the fall. I should have enough sheets to last until New Year's now when this load of laundry is returned on Friday. When there are a lot of weeks between laundry deliveries, I cover it with large towels or blankets to keep the dust off, etc. Our season is really winding down.

John knew in advance that someone was going to be coming today to speak to him about people with disabilities. Bob is his name, and he is curious about what John does for sports and recreation for people with disabilities. John has been doing such programs since the 1980's and he told Bob a lot of information about it. Bob is possibly going to start a non-profit wherein he offers assistance for sports/rec. for people in other parts of the state. He and John talked for quite awhile.

I made a big dinner tonight and it fed 8 people with leftovers. I love to cook. I made cornish hens, and all the Thanksgiving-type trimmings. Then John took us out on the pontoon for a sunset cruise. He went to the beach and retrieved an adirondack chair for me so I could sit comfortably on the pontoon. He is so sweet.

When we got back in, the moon had just risen above the trees. We floated on the pontoon just outside the resort for a little while before we docked. It was beautiful.

Football and baseball were on TV and the guys wanted to watch. So I took out one of the women, who is staying here and who I consider a friend, into town. We had one drink, talked a little, and then came back. It was fun to get out for awhile without the guys.

Tomorrow will probably be more kayaking. I can't help but feel that I am on vacation a little this week. It is our first week in awhile that we are not completely full and it feels a little too easy. There's not as many people needing my attention or anything in particular. I enjoyed having the time to cook a large meal and have our lodge table set up for a big group with table settings, etc. Its been awhile.

The trees are starting to change color. Every year mid-August this happens and each time I feel surprised a little by it. We haven't had our first frost yet and might tomorrow night I understand. That would mean no more mosquitoes. I can only hope!

38 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

This picture is of our golden retriever, Senna. She received the orange toy in the mail from a customer.

Sunday morning I got up early to go to church. I wasn't even up a half hour when my son, Joey, drove into the resort. He lives about 2 hours away, so that means he left at 6:45 a.m. He always was an early riser. He came to pick up his items from the military that were shipped here. He also came to visit. He stayed for about 3 hours and during that time a customer/friend came into the lodge. She talked for awhile with me but I had to visit with my son. She didn't seem to want to stop talking so she joined me in the main house and we visited with my son too. She then stayed and talked with John for about another hour while my son and I loaded up his truck with his shipment, etc. Sometimes customers/friends just need to talk and we don't mind, if we have the time.

Later in the evening I kayaked with this same friend/customer. We left the resort around 7:00 or so in the evening. We took our time going up river. We saw an eagle sitting right above us on a tree. It took off in flight right in front of us and then later on up the river, we saw it again up in a tree. It was beautiful. Her hands were shaking, so she asked me to take some pictures. I think I got some great ones of the eagle.

The sun was setting behind the trees and we could hear creatures stirring in the bushes. The grasshoppers were squeaking and birds were singing. A flock of ducks flew right over us and fish were jumping. A lot of the time we were quiet, but eventually she started to tell me about all the changes in her life. We had a nice talk and I enjoyed her company.

When we got back to our lake, we could see the sun was completely set and the color in the sky and air was a mellow pink. We floated on the middle of the lake. In the distance was a solitary loon, floating along. They are curious birds and eventually, slowly, it swam up to us. We were watching it, the sunset colors and the full moon above the lake. The reflection of the moon was on the calm, still lake. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the mama loon came over with the 2 baby loons. They are almost full grown now but their colors are still trying to catch up. Their heads aren't black yet and their black spots are still brown. They were very curious of us so they swam right around us. The parents didn't like that but the kids ignored them. Sound familiar?

We hadn't been paddling anywhere and since there wasn't any wind, we hadn't floated toward them. They came right up to us. We took a lot of pictures and still they stayed by us. It was amazing. Since this was by far the most memorial part of the last two days, I had to start with this story. So now back to the regular stuff about running a resort.

On Saturday we only had 2 cleaning girls arrive. So I cleaned with them. We finished 5 cabins and they decided to come back the next day to do the rest. So on Sunday around 1 p.m. they came to clean and worked until after 5 p.m. I was on the beach with customers. I felt a little guilty, but the cleaning ladies didn't mind because then they would work longer and make more money.

John made a small campfire for someone who wanted to cook brats over the fire. She brought out enough brats to feed an army, so we all ate some. To add to the party, I made a pitcher of papaya margaritas and brought them down to the campfire. Earlier we had all been in the lake. So then we were all sitting in our swimming suits, eating brats, drinking margaritas and enjoying the campfire. It was fun.

Later John took up a bunch of garbage to the dumpster, cleaned up the recycling area, and then put the anti-bear device back on. We don't want to take any chances with the bear.

Today as I write this, it is Monday and John is out kayaking with a bunch of customers. It is 85 degrees. I think they should have done a small trip and then come back to swim. Hopefully no one is going to get heat stroke! I will pick them up at some point on the river with the Toyota 4WD/trailer. I hope they are enjoying the beautiful river.

37 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

I got up early today at 7:20 before my alarm went off. I had put off making the bags of clean laundry. So I had to get to it early this morning. The cleaning girls will be here at 9 o'clock hopefully so I need to get cracking.

First I had to let out the dog. Good thing because he had to go almost immediately. Then I put away an entire dishwasher of dishes, made breakfast and then headed downstairs.

Our basement is a catastrophe. We have some organized chaos near the laundry and cleaning section of the basement. The rest is scary. Is there anyone out there who organizes basements? We could use some help. Anyway I finished 4 bags before the one, get it, one cleaning girl showed up. I had heard last week that I would have 3, which would be good, but only Alicia was here. So she and I got started.

We stripped the dirty sheets off of the Spruce cabin's beds first because that was the only cabin that left at check-out time. Everyone else took at least 20 minutes more. We loaded up the minivan with the cleaning supplies: vacuum, baskets of cleaning chemicals, basket of rags, bags, clean laundry and off we went. We worked well together and got Cedar done within about 45 minutes. Then I went to call the other cleaning girls. I had hoped they would show up eventually but when they weren't here by 10 o'clock, I had to call. I left 2 messages. Hopefully the fact that they weren't answering meant that they were on their way. At 10:10 another cleaning lady showed up. It turned out she had to drive her daughter almost an hour away to a babysitter first. I feel for her since I was a single mom once too. I was happy she was able to make it.

So now there were 3 of us and that's a good enough number for cleaning. We cleaned another 2 cabins and then I made us lunch. There was salad, corn on the cob, melon, lean pockets and lil' smokies. That's quite a mixture, but we were hungry and the food disappeared. We had chocolate cake for dessert.

We cleaned until about 2:15 and finished the 5 cabins that were needed this week. The cleaning ladies will come back tomorrow, Sunday, at 1:00 p.m. to do some more cleaning and possibly finish the others.

This is the first week that we are not full because of school starting. Our summer is over. We won't have the children back during the week until after June 5, next year now. So we will start to wind down now. This week is our kayak week for people with disabilities. We offer a discount and kayaking options for anyone who has a disability. We have 5 cabins in this week. We will be full Labor Day weekend and the weekend after that is a retreat for the Spina Bifida Association. But our weeks will be less hectic now until next spring.

John worked very hard today helping us by taking the dirty sheets out of the cabins, and turning off and emptying refrigerators. He still had his regular duties too: bailing out the many gallons of water out of the boats, cleaning out grills and putting away garbage, etc. He worked until 5:30 or so. Then he got a telephone call from our elderly neighbor to help him with his neighbor's dogs. The elderly man's neighbor had asked him to watch 3 dogs. This is terrible because he just got out of the hospital. He had trouble walking up and down his stairs and then he was asked to take care of his neighbor's dogs. I felt like calling them and saying, "Shame on you asking him to watch your dogs!" John went over and helped him and said we would take care of their dogs tomorrow. John was so worried about him because he was out of breath, etc. Hopefully he will be okay.

When you live in the country, your neighbors are sometimes miles away. It is no small effort for John to go to this "neighbor's" home to take care of their dogs because they are more than a mile away. We will have to talk with them when they get back.

I did a couple loads of laundry again. Laundry is my life around here. Somebody's kid must have scratched a mosquito bite until it bled, because there was a lot of blood in the foot end of a bed. This usually means an ankle bite of a mosquito. I've seen it before. So that means a lot more laundry but that happens. We can't have any, and I mean any, spots on a mattress pad. That would be very yucky.

Tomorrow we will be doing a lot of swimming and kayaking because it is supposed to be 85 degrees. It will be fun and hopefully I will get some more sun. Soon I won't be able to get much in the way of a tan anymore. It will be cooling off very soon.

36 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Another Friday just blew by. It seems like I just rolled out of bed.

We had people stopping in the lodge all day. Mostly it was because they had to pay for their week, which is a very good thing. Some wanted to use our Wi-Fi, others just wanted to return things or borrow things. Someone even played the piano for awhile. We love that!

Our niece, Jaeden, had to go home today so I drove her half way to meet my brother in Manitowish Waters at the Rustic Roadhouse. She didn't want to leave and begged to go swimming one more time before she left. So she got on her swimming suit in record time and went swimming for about 10 minutes before we had to leave.

Some customers got a campfire going early today and kept it going for awhile. It rained until around 11:00 a.m. and then they built the fire, cooked marshmallows after lunch and then just let it go.

There was a lot of swimming today, even though it rained for half of it. When the sun came out, the beach was packed.

John went down to the beach and turned over a lot of the kayaks because they were so full of rain. Some of the customers helped him to do this since there are over 10 kayaks and there are also canoes, sail boat, and a paddle boat. We didn't bail out any of the motor boats yet but will do that tomorrow. Everything was wet and humid this afternoon. The customers who left their towels on the line are going to have to pack them wet tomorrow. It was just too humid for them to dry.

Last night we had a tremendous thunder crack very close to the resort. Everyone we spoke to said they woke up because of it. It was so close that I turned on the radio and listened to it for awhile waiting for a weather alert. If there was a tornado sighting, we wouldn't hear the siren out here. So I have a weather radio, scanner and headphone radio to cover all the bases. Last night I turned on the headphone radio. If we got severe weather or a tornado out here, we would have to notify everyone to get into our basement. So we have to be very prepared. Its a good thing I am a very light sleeper and that I am concerned about this. Hopefully my watchfulness will relieve customer's concerns.

As I type this, I can hear more thunder rolling in the distance. So I will check the weather one more time before turning in. I don't want to miss any severe weather alerts.

35 Days of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Wednesday morning I ran up to the dumpster because he was here early again and the anti-bear device was still on. The driver was already taking it off before I got there so I was surprised. He didn't even mind that it was on the dumpster, and in fact, said it looked like it was working well.

Most of the day it rained. I went to the Wampum shop with my niece and then grocery shopping. I did some laundry, made some meals and helped John with some paperwork. At 3 o'clock we started a kids movie and made popcorn. The lodge was filled with kids watching the movie (see picture). It was a lot of fun. We haven't had to have a rainy day movie since June. Most of the days this summer have been sunny for the most part, with rain in the afternoon or evening. We've been lucky with the weather, but I love to have the kids pile into the lodge for a movie. It was a lot of fun.

My son's personal items arrived via special delivery from the military Wednesday. He did not get his computer and surround sound stereo system. So I called them right away and wrote the problem on the receiver forms. I hope he gets new ones from their insurance.

Later in the day I was asked if I wanted to go to a movie with a group. I jumped at the chance. The summer is when the new movies come out for the most part. The summer is when I can't get away to enjoy them. We saw Eat Pray Love. I had read the book because my sister-in-law gave it to me to read. The movie wasn't like the book in the beginning or ending, but it was still great. We saw a lot of deer along the way there and back but none out in the road.

There were flashes of lightning in the sky on our way back and we even encountered some small hail too. We made it back with no incident.

Thursday morning I woke up around 9 o'clock because we didn't get back until after midnight the night before. Our niece, Jaeden, is here and she was up before me today.

We spent most of the day down by the beach with customers again. I did some more laundry, organized the basement laundry area and made the day's regular meals. Later in the afternoon we saw an eagle soaring above the lake and the loons squawked a lot when they saw it too.

A lot of our customers kayaked the last couple of days. Yesterday John took a group to the Flowage, today he dropped off a group up stream. He would have liked to kayak with them, but he had to drive the truck/trailer back to the resort. Some customers kayaked from our resort up stream and they said it was beautiful

There was a campfire at dinner time and some customers made their dinner over it. The kids really enjoyed dessert - marshmallows.

I am expecting some company tomorrow so I did a lot of cleaning today. Our summer will be winding down soon and I will have more time to be organized. For now there are piles here and there of stuff I have to put away. For instance, on a tray on our kitchen counter there are batteries, sunglasses, hand scraper, bug spray, can cooler, straps, keys and other junk. I then have to decide what to do with the stuff. There are trays like this all over. I got rid of a couple of them today by putting stuff where it belongs. In the next few weeks, I will get the house more organized.

I had to scramble to find boat lights today. We bought six each front and back lights what seems like last year (probably 5 years ago). Now there is only one set that works. They're probably made in China. When they get wet, they break. Boat lights aren't supposed to break forever when they get wet. Go figure. After taking off lens caps, bulbs, batteries, etc. I finally got a pair to work.

Some customers came into the lodge yesterday and today to play the piano. They play very well and it was really enjoyable. We have an upright piano in the lodge. Neither John nor I know how to play a tune on it, but a lot of our customers do. So we enjoy it a lot when they play.

Tonight there were people playing the piano again, foosball, board games, kids were drawing, people were checking their lap tops, and people were talking. I love this life.

34 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

This picture is of our oldest dog Buddy, and our nephews Carl, Ned and niece Freya in our newest cabin, Ironwood. Ned and Freya's dad is John's brother, Jim and their mother is Laura.

Today is Tuesday and the recycling truck arrived when we were eating breakfast. We totally forgot to do the recycling run around the resort before it arrived. Our schedule has been so hectic that I also forgot to call laundry to pick up this week. Hopefully I'll have enough sheets for next week. Otherwise I'll be doing some laundry. I'll have to make some bags of clean laundry for the cabins soon to make sure I have enough so I'm not doing laundry last minute.

Tomorrow is garbage truck day so in the morning we will do a garbage run from the fish cleaning house to the dumpster. John did a garbage run tonight to get all the rest, so that's over at least.

John and I are exhausted. Friday we prepared, Saturday we worked extremely hard, Sunday we worked again for his dad's memorial, Monday morning we cleaned up, packed, organized, drove home, had pot luck and caught up with our customers. So today I could hardly keep my eyes open and wanted a nap so badly even though I slept plenty last night. But a nap was never meant to be. Just when I was about to fall asleep on the couch, customers came in to the lodge asking for something. My niece who is staying for the week had been playing a board game with some new friends in the lodge so I thought I could sneak away for a little shut-eye. Oh well.

It turns out that we have some plumbing issues to contend with tomorrow. The kitchen sink in 2 cabins is leaking a little underneath. It isn't an emergency, which is good, because John was out on an outing. I don't know plumbing enough to fix those leaks. One might need an entire new seal around the drain. Yikes.

John took a big group to the Turtle Flambeau Flowage today. He finally got to see all the devastation from the tornado that went through a month ago. John said it is bad and the one route we used to take between islands is no longer open. He said trees are down, campsites are ruined and there's a lot of work to be done. John had been wanting to see the damage from the storm, but hadn't had a chance until today. He was gone from 1pm until 7pm. That's a long day.

I don't know how John can still sit down at the campfire. I was falling asleep down there talking with people. I'm sure the one glass of red wine I drank didn't help any to keep me awake. It took my aching knee pain away though.

Some other customers went kayaking up river toward Shay Dam. They enjoyed their outing but their children are all pretty small and I don't think they will try that long of an outing for awhile. One mother called the outing "epic". That didn't sound too good. I asked her to elaborate and she said that the kids had to move around in the kayaks, they had to stop to change people around, they never found a place to get out and swim but loved the scenery. They still had fun though. I guess epic meant quite a lot of work for the parents. But the children will forever have the memory of being on a river in the northwoods. You can't beat that.

There haven't been any bear or snapping turtle sightings lately which is wonderful. The water is really warm and the kids are having a blast playing at the beach.

There's a roaring campfire going to ward off the chill of the night. Its supposed to get down to 48 degrees tonight but no one wants their heaters turned on. They are so happy to be away from the southern heat wave that they don't mind curling up with blankets. We're happy we don't have to turn on the heaters too.

Good night everybody. My pillow is calling.

30, 31, 32, 33 Days of What it is Like to Run a Resort

I haven't been able to blog because I was, gulp, unplugged. On Friday the 13th, we said good bye to our week's customers and prepared for the next week. We were going to leave on Saturday around 4 p.m. to go to Door County for John's dad's memorial. So I thought I would get a head start. I made all the bags of clean laundry for all the cabins, made the guest bed for my brother/his family, cleaned the bathroom, stocked up on supplies and packed. We had asked my brother, his wife, and our niece and nephew to watch the resort for us on Saturday evening and Sunday. They, thankfully, said they would. That way we wouldn't have to wait for all the customers to arrive.

Check in is usually 3:00 p.m. so we try to get all the cabins cleaned by then. I had 3 cleaning girls show up and one had to leave by noon. Another was a little hung over but she stuck it out with us until the end. It was 85 degrees and humid and because my eye glasses kept sliding off my nose, I got a bandana, tied it tight, and went to help clean. It was a very good thing I had made all the bags the night before because I wouldn't have had time. I had to clean all the cabins with the cleaning ladies. I don't usually do this because there is so much to do on Saturdays the way it is. That is why we have cleaning ladies to do the cabins. So when I have to clean, it is very stressful.

I asked the ladies what they wanted me to clean, and they said the kitchens. They are the hardest to clean because that's the room that gets the messiest. I found that if I start at one spot and go in a complete circle back to where I began, that I don't miss anything. Everything has to be wiped down with an anti-bacterial cleaner. When I am done, I wipe all surfaces with a bleach solution too. Sometimes the oven is a mess and that means turning it on to around 300 degrees, turning it off and spraying some oven cleaner in. Then you close the door, wait for a couple minutes, then open it up and start wiping the mess with rags. The chemical is so harsh that you have to wear gloves. I had 2 ovens like this.

When I start at one point and go around the kitchen, I usually start at the easiest, which is usually after the oven. This way I end at the oven. Going in a circle is easy if the kitchen appliances are all in one area. A couple of cabins have an appliance out of the normal kitchen area and this cleaning plan doesn't always work. For instance in our Birch cabin, the refrigerator is in a pantry area off the main entry. In the Hemlock cabin, the microwave is on a separate cabinet on a separate wall, etc. But we hit the ground running at 9:00 a.m. and finished at 4:30. We were exhausted, sore, sweaty and sooooo glad to be finished.

I quickly jumped in the shower, John finished ALL the other work that had to be done and he jumped in the shower about a half hour after I was finished. We were on the road by 5:30 p.m., about an hour and half after our desired time. When we got to Door County, it was too late for him to set up a tent, so he shared his brother's. His brother/kids, cousin and John were camping that night so we arrived, said hi to John's mother, and then went to the camp site. We sat for awhile at the fire reminiscing about John's dad and got to bed late.

My back was very sore from cleaning and working hard all day Saturday so I was very glad to get a twin bed in the house. John's brother's kids fell asleep watching a movie in the house so they ended up not camping too. We had 7 people in a 3 bedroom house but it was very comfortable.

Sunday at 2:00 p.m. was the memorial. John and I worked hard to assist his sister, brother/wife and mom set up everything and then clean up afterwards. So we had another day of hard work but we felt good to be able to help. It was so very important that we be there and when you run a resort, getting away in the summer is nearly impossible. We were so glad to be able to get Gary/family to come to our resort. Thanks, bro'.

Monday we drove home the 4.5 hours, and picked up our niece on the way. She had been scheduled to be at the resort this week and we didn't want to disappoint her. She sat in the back seat with two big dogs who kept dripping drool on her. She has two big dogs at home, so she wasn't hysterical or anything, but it wasn't the greatest ride home. We were anxious about being away from the resort for a day and a half too. I was worried about what our customers might think about us being gone.

When we got back, everyone and everything was fine. The customers were happy to see us, our dogs, Senna and Buddy, went and greeted everyone and we spent the next couple hours catching up. Some customers had gone kayaking today on their own since they were familiar with the river. We were very happy they did. One of the customers is from Oregon and he brought us a bunch of smoked salmon. AWESOME! We love smoked salmon.

The customers were sorry for John's loss and understood that we were gone for a very good reason. My brother/family watched the resort for us and we were very thankful that everything went okay. Their only "problem" was when someone needed a fan. Gary/Judi went downstairs and finally found one in our huge mess of a basement. They cleaned it up, brought it upstairs, and then noticed we had a fan sitting up there already. There was a nice floor fan sitting right by the main table. They had missed it, which is sort of funny.

Our niece, Jaeden, will be here the rest of the week and she already made friends. She swam with a little girl and caught crawfish today already.

We had our Monday night pot luck and I was very happy to have some pasta salad that was left over from the memorial. It was a large bowl full and I added some pepperoni. There was hardly any left over so it was the perfect amount too. There was a lot of healthy foods today and that was a nice change from the summer of pot lucks so far. There are usually salads, but this time there were a lot of different salads of all types and not a lot of meat dishes. Someone did make a boneless pork chop casserole, which could have fed an army, and I think that was the only non-healthy dish. It was fun to see everyone and meet new people. Our neighbor, Harry, who is 80 and lives by himself, joined us again. He hadn't been feeling well the last couple of weeks because of the heat, so it was nice to see him.

After the pot luck, Jaeden and I went down to the campfire area. There was a nice fire going and kids were roasting marshmallows. We hung out there for over an hour and then she went up to the lodge to play board games with the little girls. John was up in the lodge talking with customers and I was at the campfire until after 10:00 p.m. Then Jaeden went to bed and I could catch up with my blog.

I hope I don't have another Saturday like I did this last week. If you are reading this and want to help clean cabins, give me a call. We need more help. I almost killed my back this Saturday and it is still recovering. Well, my pillow is calling.

29 Day of 365 of What it is like to Run a Resort

There was a garbage truck coming somethime in the morning so I went up immediately and took off the anti-bear device. I checked the fish cleaning house and, thankfully, there wasn't any fish guts this week.

I did a lot of laundry today in preparation of the weekend. Now, finally, there's not a pile in front of the washer. It took 5 loads. Now the cleaning rags, throw rugs, bathroom rugs, kitchen cloths and personal stuff is all clean. I hung up the laundry but with all the humidity, it will take days to dry. It sure was nice to hang out in the basement for awhile though. Whenever I would walk up the stairs, I would gasp at the humidity.

I hung out on the beach for most of the day floating on a tube or sitting on the shore on floaties. So did most of the people at our resort.

John arrived around 5:30 p.m. from his mom's house. He worked a lot of hours for days making everything ready for his dad's memorial this Sunday. My brother/wife/kids will be watching the resort for us on Sat. night/Sunday. Thanks, guys - it is much appreciated. I think it is very important for me to go to the memorial.

Almost right after John arrived I had to go to Lioness Bingo. I had to call the numbers: can you say, N-34? That number wouldn't light up so I always had to wait a little longer after calling it. But it went well - no complaints about too fast or too slow. We finished at the usual time. I think being a member of the Lioness is important in a small town.

During Bingo's intermission I looked through the mound of books behind my chair on the stage. The library had a book sale last week and the left overs were piled about 4 feet high and 20 feet long. I took home a box full and will call the librarian tomorrow to ask how much I need to pay.

When I got home, it was 9:45 p.m. and it was so humid outside that the fog had to be wiped off the windshield with the wipers. John was relaxing in the house as no one needed him in the lodge. It was nice to be able to catch up with him for an hour when no one came into the lodge. Not promoting our bar business has been great for our personal lives. We wouldn't like having a busy bar every night, that's for sure. We make our money on renting the cabins, not the bar. So thankfully, we enjoy our lives more that way. Some people may like their bar being busy and that's where they make their money, but we are happy the way ours is run.

Tomorrow there is a hike planned and we will see who gets to go and who will stay.

28 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Our resort is Pine Forest Lodge. I wasn't sure up until this point if I should put the name down because I was afraid of what feedback I would be getting. So far all the feedback has been positive, so now you know.

This morning I got up later than usual. I didn't sleep so good because it was so hot and humid. In the morning I let out our shepherd immediately because when he wakes up, he has to go right away. Then I got dressed and went up to the dumpster. I opened the anti-bear device and propped the lid open so people could put their trash in. Tomorrow the garbage truck comes and the dumpster is very full. So we lock it every night to make sure bear don't get in it anymore. We captured a bear 28 days ago, at the beginning of this blog. We have had another one causing trouble, so we have to be careful.

I had to give someone a map and someone else a menu this morning but otherwise it was a light work day. At 11 a.m. the temp was already 82 degrees, sunny and humid. I thought we were in for a scorcher but later the clouds rolled in. The humidity went away a bit and the lake looked like glass. Some of our customers were out fishing and others went water skiing. I floated in a submerged net/seat. I sit on a net and the air filled tubes go around my back and under each arm. Its very comfortable and keeps me cool since I am at least halfway submerged. Ahhhh.

I hardly had any telephone calls today compared to the last few days. Since my husband's dad died, the telephone has been ringing off the hook. My sister-in-law did call and ask if I could send them some pictures for a collage they are making for Bud's memorial service. I spent about an hour looking through old albums and sent them out in the afternoon priority mail. Before I left for the post office, I asked a customer to watch in case a UPS or FEDEX truck would arrive. When I got back only about 20 minutes later, they were surprised to see me. "Are you back already? Well, the pressure's off then. Back to relaxing." Apparently they had no difficulties running the resort while I was away.

I checked e-mails and answered a few. There are still no new inquiries for our fall quilt retreat. I am really getting worried that we will not have enough people for the retreat to be a success. So far there are only 4. The lady who talked me into having the retreat is still confident we will fill the spots. I sent her some fliers today for her to put into people's bags at her quilt store. Hopefully that will help. So far I have sent out fliers to every quilt store in southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois and western Wisconsin. Then I e-mailed quilt guilds that I found on-line. I contacted two local quilt shops personally. I put our retreat on-line on a free activity page for the northwoods. I have done everything but advertise in the paper. I will check on that soon.

We had some customers arrive again today to rent our boats to go fishing. One of their sons caught their first legal musky - 38 inches long. He was very excited I guess. Hopefully I will get a picture from them so I can post it.

The loons were out on the lake squawking today again. I saw one flapping its wings. They sound so amazing but weird. I can't help but think their sound is sort of prehistoric. I love the way they communicate with their wide range of tones and sounds.

Tonight I went to a writer's group. I really enjoyed it and hopefully I will be able to continue to go. Group participation is the most important thing with new groups, and already 2 ladies didn't show up since the first meeting. But we did have a new writer so that's good. It was fun.

When I got back, 2 customers/kids came out to see why Buddy, our shepherd, was barking. They kids knew I was gone and they were concerned for our old dog. He was just barking to say he saw me. I thought it was very cute that the kids were worried about Buddy and that they ran out to see if he was okay. Sometimes the people at the resort become an extended family. Everyone watches out for each other and helps each other. I love that when that happens. The fact that people still reach out to each other in times of need, reaffirms my hope that inside we all really do care about each other.

27 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

This picture is of my son, Joey, who is finally home from the military. He finished his 4 years with the Marines and is now working construction instead of putting on his camo and toting a 50 pound pack around. He came to visit when his cousin, Jaeden, was here. She is the little girl in the picture, my niece.

Today is Monday, another pot luck day (6 p.m.). But I had a lot to do before then. We have an anti-bear device on the dumpster, so first thing I went up and opened it back up. I saw some customers on the way and said hello and warned them that the garbage truck will be coming on Wednesday morning to pick up, and that they would have to move their cars, etc. the night before. The garbage truck has been coming too early for us and he said he would arrive later this time. I hope so.

I ate some cereal, fed Buddy-our shepherd, and then went down to the beach to talk with people. It was a good thing I had the telephone with me because we got a lot of calls. John's dad died Saturday night and there are a lot of people calling with their sympathies. We sure have a lot of friends and that is wonderful. I bet I spent at least half the day on the telephone.

A customer said today that we sure have done a lot with the place since we bought it. They had been coming for awhile, and said that its also just not the resort itself, but us (John & me) who make the vacation experience so worthwhile. That was really nice. John is more the people person-he loves to talk for hours and loves to go on and plan outings with the customers. I am more happy cleaning, putting stuff away, working on the computer or just listening to customers. I guess that means that I am John's ying to his yang - or that we are great for each other. Its been working for 10 years, so it must be good.

The neighbor's dog has discovered that our resort is a lot of fun. It is a miniature chihuahua with long hair. His name is Jackson and he was down at the beach and running around all morning. I ended up putting a leash on him and walking him home. All the surrounding neighbor's dogs seem to like it here. There are kids, other dogs, action, food, you name it. The neighbor said she is looking for a good home for him. He is 9 mos. old and not fixed but is a pure breed. I had a nice talk with her and invited her to the pot luck. She didn't come but it was still nice to talk with her. She and her husband and son have been renting up the hill from our resort since November and I've only spoken with her once since. I guess we've both been very busy.

I posted on our Facebook page that we would need someone to watch the resort on Sunday so we could go to John's dad's memorial service. My brother and family have decided to come up to do so. That will enable me to go to the memorial too, which I think is VERY important. I've had to stay home through all this and the fact that Bud is gone, seems surreal. I'm sure it will hit me when I get there on Sunday.

In the evening I took up the garbage and closed up the dumpster again with the anti-bear device. Then I put on my swimming suit and jumped in the lake. The water felt great. I wondered why I hadn't gone swimming earlier. It got up to 90 today. If it gets this hot tomorrow, I sure will.

Since no one has come into the lodge in awhile, I guess I will close up for the night and go to bed earlier than normal. This heat sure wears me out.

26 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, so what the heck happened today?

John's dad died last night at around 1:00 a.m. He was 82 and had Alzheimers for six years. His disease had become so bad that he was no longer able to swallow. He also didn't want any tubes or artificial means to keep him alive, so it was only a matter of time and he lived for 7 days without many fluids. He wasn't in pain, and just passed away in his sleep. He was a wonderful man and I wish my dad could have been a lot like him. Bud will be missed.

We were up pretty late after we got the call last night so when my alarm went off, I hit the snooze. I had to serve communion at church so I couldn't miss it. I went but didn't tell anyone about Bud. They didn't know him and I didn't want people to say stuff like, "I'm so sorry."

After church I went to the grocery store and picked up a bunch of stuff that John could take with him to his mother's. The last thing I wanted was for his mother to cook anything so I sent along a bunch of stuff so she wouldn't have to. John's sister, Kathy, is there so hopefully Denny won't have to do a thing. Denny is 82 also and they had just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on July 1st. She will have a really hard time about this, I'm sure. I packed the cooler and helped John get ready to go. He left around 1:30 p.m. and its a 5 hour trip.

I had to stay and watch the resort and take care of stuff so John tried to make it easier for me before he left. He compacted the garbage, emptied the fish guts garbage into the dumpster for me, and had to tell me a lot of stuff about the boats, just in case. We/he did paperwork and then off he went. It feels so weird without him around. I can't imagine what Denny must be feeling.

Yesterday a customer was sitting on one of our piers and swinging her feet in the water. She felt something clamp onto the ball of her foot and she screamed, lifted up her foot, and there was a huge snapping turtle attached. Yikes! It let go immediately and she had a pretty big gash on the bottom of her foot. Her aunt brought out a first aid kit and that's when I noticed the commotion. She said she had everything she needed and that she would be okay. In all my years of living up north, I've never seen or heard of such a thing. We are going to call the DNR one of these days and see if there's something we can do to get rid of them.

This afternoon I visited with some customers on the beach and then went in to make some telephone calls to relatives about my father-in-law's death. When I had just finished talking to someone for a half hour, some customers arrived to rent some boats. I told them about the lake, how the water levels are up high, and the boats. They have been her a lot of times so are familiar with the lake. After they left, I completed some more calls. Then I went down to the beach with some laundry to put on the line. I hung it up and then talked with customers for awhile.

Later I started a campfire all by myself because no one seemed to want to talk with me. They were in their little groups in deep conversations and I didn't want to interrupt. It was nice sitting by the beautiful flames with the setting sun. The lake became so smooth, it was almost like glass. Some loons flew overhead, calling out the entire time. Some loons landed on the lake and their landing was beautiful to watch.

I went in to put away some laundry and then got several more calls. I spoke with a couple who are dear friends who live in NY. They are going to fly out to WI for the memorial. Then I spoke with my son who offered to watch the resort for me and John next weekend. It is so very nice to have him home from the military.

The last duty of the night was to make 4 kiddy cocktails for some teenage boys who were buying some teenage girls a "drink" by the campfire. So fun. I hope the girls appreciated it.

25 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Another Saturday is now finished as I write this. For some reason this summer, Saturdays have been hot and humid and the remainder of the week was cooler. So we sweat our butts off and work hard on the most humid days, but what can we do?

I had 4 cleaning girls show up but one had her boyfriend coming into town around noon so she left early. Another one made it in late so we had a late start for the whole day, but that's okay. I went ahead of the girls and started cleaning refrigerators or making beds, etc. Even then we were late getting the cabins ready. We were in Cedar at 3:00 p.m. and still had 1 to do. I cleaned the bathroom in there for the girls and then did the last cabin's refrigerator too. Hopefully the customers didn't mind too much.

Then when they started to arrive, we had something happen that NEVER had before. A customer said they had signed up for a different cabin and there was someone else in it. They said they had switched with a customer last year. Well we looked at the schedule, and the person they supposedly had switched with had moved to an earlier week. So the cabin was now someone elses. It was all settled later, but was sad and worrisome for awhile.

John's dad died Sunday night very late. So now he will be leaving today (Sun.). So I have to finish the blog early. I have a lot to do today.

24 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

I hope that the jibberish I see above this text turns into a picture when I save the blog, if not, please excuse my computer's inability to download a picture. If it did show up, it is a picture of our raft with kids having a great time on it. We have a diving platform that looks like a spring board, but actually is more like a plank. The kids love it.

Today I was up early and my husband slept in. He has been very busy with his parents and today he caught up on some sleep. I was going to go to the library at 9:00 a.m. for their book sale, but I had to wait for him to wake up. Otherwise there would be a lot of people disturbing his rest. Sure enough there were people in the lodge asking for one thing or another way before 9:30 a.m., when he got up.

John got out of bed eventually and started on the paperwork that was waiting for him. He asked me a bunch of questions, and got me to run an errand and so my departure was delayed. I had to get all the gas cans out of the garage, put them in the minivan and fill them up on my outing. Two of them needed new corks and luckily I had saved some corks from wine bottles. The tops of the spouts have disappeared somewhere. We are going to have all of our boats rented next week, starting tomorrow. So we wanted to make sure we had enough gas. One group of guys who are renting them use a lot of gas and we wanted to make sure it was ready for them. They will be using all the boats for 1 day, 2 for 3 days and 1 for all week. Confusing, but we'll manage.

I'm a little worried about our dogs today. I think someone has been feeding them stuff because they are not eating their dog food and Senna, our Golden Retriever, threw up this morning. Customers think they're guaranteeing that our dogs will love them if they give them food. Well all it does is make our lives miserable. I had to clean up a mess from Senna and Buddy won't eat his food on a regular basis, so we worry about giving him his pain meds, etc. We tried to remind everyone not to feed them, but we'll see what happens.

Most everybody was on the beach all day. It was sunny and warm with a strong breeze. A lot of people brought their left over snacks down to the beach and we had a lot of fun sampling the treats. If we can make their packing less work by eating some of their food, we'll do it.

At the Library's book sale today (Hi, Renie!), hard covers were $1 and paperbacks were $25 each. I spent $15 and got a huge bag full. The ladies who were checking me out complimented me on the large amount of books I purchased for the resort. I had to get a lot of different types to please everyone. Fiction for John - adventure or fun stories; non-fiction for me; some self-help medical books and the like, and some fun books for anyone. It was fun picking out the books for the lodge. We have 3 book cases in the lodge for people to read books, swap books or take books home. We don't mind if people take a book home, we just ask that they bring one of equal value back. Most people bring a lot more than one back and that works well too. I saw some of our friends and customers at the book sale and that was fun too.

Later in the day I put away the huge laundry bin that was delivered just hours before. It comes all shrink wrapped, ironed and put in size piles. I have to sort a lot of it though because the laundry folks don't always get the sizes right. After I spent about an hour sorting and putting away the huge laundry bin, I started my work for tomorrow. I pulled out my white laundry bags and put the following clean/new items in for tomorrow: 2 each of the following - dish cloth, dish towel, hot pads, rugs, garbage bags, paper towels; one each of the following - pillowcases for each pillow, sheets for each bed, scrubbie, grease can; 4 rolls of toilet paper and a table cloth. I label the bag for each cabin and set it by the basement door. In the morning when a cabin checks out, I take out all the dirty stuff out of the cabin, and drop off the new bag in the cabin for the cleaning crew. So tonight I got a head start and did 4 out of 9 bags. I really hope at least 4 cleaning ladies show up tomorrow morning.

Today, and most weeks, people tell us that this is their favorite vacation. These particular people just got back from Hawaii too. That's impressive. They said it is so relaxing, and their kids can have fun running through the wooded trails, and they don't have to worry about them. To them, that's one of the things that make a great vacation for their kids. I guess I hadn't thought about that too much as it is something I take for granted. I grew up in the northwoods so running around in them is expected. I forget that people from the city areas don't have safe places for their kids to play in the woods. So this is so great for them. It makes me happy that we can provide the "best" vacation that they have with their families.

We have 2 early check in requests for tomorrow which means we have to have 2 cabins cleaned by noon for sure. We also have someone staying 2 weeks so their cabin that they are moving into should be done as soon as possible too. They couldn't get the same cabin for 2 weeks so have to switch tomorrow to a different one. So that's 3 early cabins. Hopefully the people in those cabins will leave fairly early, which helps.

Tonight after the campfire we tried to see northern lights. There was a little white spurt or two but that was it. The stars were out though which made up for it. The night was clear and beautiful. It was nice to have John sitting next to me on the dock bench under the stars - with 5 other people. We were hoping to see the northern lights, but it was still a very beautiful night.

23 Day of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

I slept in today and was sort of woken up by a customer coming in to show me her granddaughter at 8:30 a.m. That is not too early at all, but I felt bad that I was so far behind with my morning routine already, that I didn't visit for more than a minute. I apologized and hit the shower.

By 9:00 I was showered and back in the lodge to talk to more customers. There was a brisk wind off the lake and it probably wouldn't get any warmer than 70 degrees, so they were thinking of doing some outdoor activities that didn't include swimming. There are a lot of options around the area and I named a few. They chose one and off they went to prepare.

I had to go in search of Buddy, our shepherd. He was at my sister-in-law's cabin again. He just loves those kids of theirs and goes there whenever I let him outside. There he was, spread out in front of their door, guarding their cabin. I brought him back to feed him and our other dog, Senna.

I checked the dumpster around 10 a.m. to see if anyone had placed a bag on top of it and they had. Something had tried to get in the dumpster the previous night because the metal, anti-bear device had been moved around. Darn bears.

It rained a little every day for the last 4 days so our water level rose significantly in our lagoon. One pier had sections floating away so I had to get in a boat to retrieve them. I stacked them up here and there and realized that I better bale out the boats later, too. They might sink if we get a drenching rain again. Our center pier was completely under water. But the baling will have to wait.

I got the mail and talked with the mail lady, Inger. She asked me who plowed our road because this last winter it was bad. She is warning me in her very nice way that it had better be improved or else. I will tell John. At least she is giving me enough notice, which is what we need - a lot of notice. She must know us or something.

I typed out some confirmations from checks we got in the mail and realized we were out of stamps. I made out the deposit, put it and the envelope in my purse and shut down the lodge. I put a note on the door that I was taking Buddy to the vet and would be back by 3 p.m. I loaded both dogs in the van and took off for his appointment. He has not been able to walk very well and in order to give him pain meds, I needed to make an appointment. It turns out he just has bad arthritis. They gave us some heavy meds for him and then I headed out on other errands.

I went to the bank in Ironwood, then the post office, then to lunch, then to the commercial supply store, Lakes Distributing. I got two cases of 96 count toilet paper rolls, a box of medium vinyl gloves for cleaning, a big jug of bathroom cleaner, a box of lollie pops, and off I went. That last little stop cost us $131. The post office cost us $44. Buddy's appointment was $130. Everything adds up.

I got back home, unloaded the van, and changed my clothes for work. I started baling out the boats and had 2 customers join me by keeping me company. They talked while I worked, which was fun for me. They offered to help but I wouldn't let them. They're on vacation after all. We use old laundry detergent bottles with the top cut off as balers. They work great.

I called the bank because some earlier mail had revealed that two of our previous customers had bounced checks to us. Yikes! So far nothing has bounced on our end, but their checks now have to be re-issued to us, which will delay our bills being paid. We don't have that happen very often, but when it does, it sets us back. Every week we pay a lot of bills and our account gets pretty low until the next deposit. So when this happens, we get very concerned. Hopefully they will send their new checks, plus fees, to us right away. That's the price we pay for not taking credit cards, I guess. But the fees to have a credit card machine are just HUGE for seasonal businesses like ours. We don't do any business about 4 months of the year. For those months we would still have to pay them a minimum fee, which, last I checked, was 6% of an average month's balance. Sometimes that would be as much as $50. We can't afford to have that charge for 4 months of the year. Can you afford $200 for nothing? So we cancelled our credit card machine. Someone told me I should set up a Paypal account. I will have to check into that when we get a new computer.

Our computer froze up on me 4 times today. I can't wait for a new one! Hopefully it will be soon.

John got back from his parent's tonight with his brother. They were there helping their mother. There dad is dying and is now being taken care of by hospice. It was real nice to have him home, but its so sad. His sister is there with his mom now. John will be going back on Sunday. He thinks his dad won't hold on much longer. He was a wonderful man and it is so sad.

Tonight we went outside to see if there were northern lights. Someone had started a very nice campfire which we sat around for awhile. There are too many clouds to see the northern lights though. We could see light through the clouds so they are out there, just not where we can see them. They were supposed to be huge tonight. I hope somebody out there is enjoying them somewhere.

21 Days of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Tuesday used to be the day I would go to work as a secretary somewhere other than our resort. Now I am home being a secretary here and trying to get my 3 books I wrote published. We'll see what happens but working outside of the home was too much, especially with taking care of John's parents on and off during the year.

Now that John's dad is in hospice care, everything in that family arena is going to change. I hope John's mom will be okay. She is such a sweet, fun and nice person. I want her to know she can move in here in the winter especially, and John and I have encouraged her to do so, but she will not even think about that. She says that she will be a burden then. We don't agree at all. Hopefully she will be here at least part of this winter, if not all.

We have a 3 bedroom home and plenty of space. Relatives and friends can come just about any time of the year and we would probably have somewhere for them to sleep. When you own a vacation place, a lot of friends visit. We enjoy it. This week though we don't have anyone scheduled in our guest room. So with John gone by his parents, I don't have to cook. So for dinner tonight I ate cereal.

Earlier today I swept and cleaned the lodge. I fed the dogs and put them outside. Then I walked up to the recycling dumpster to make sure everything was okay for the pick up that was supposed to happen today. When he did arrive, he got out of the truck and had to wait for a customer to move their car. When that was done, he backed up the huge garbage truck and then got out to talk to me. He was asking me a lot of questions about myself, which led me to think he was hitting on me. I found it amusing but didn't offer him much information. It took about 5 minutes to get the guy to stop talking enough so I could fake an exit. He was nice enough, but I don't like a lot of personal questions.

Later in the day I made a few runs up to the dumpster to put garbage into it. The anti-bear device John developed for the dumpster has been working great but I have to remove it to put the garbage in. Hopefully there aren't any garbage bags on top of the dumpster later than 8:00 p.m. because that was the last time I checked.

I was down on the beach for awhile today and talked with some customers. Later some came in the lodge to watch the Brewer game. I spoke to a customer who had been to Ireland and Scotland this spring. His stories of the sites he saw made me want to go there some day.

Now I will go and see if there are northern lights. There's supposed to be a lot of activity in the next few days. This is according to a former customer who called me today to tell me to watch. Thanks! I will!

20 Days of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Monday is always pot luck day in the full summer weeks. I look forward to it because I love to cook and I love food. There will usually be a lot of it on Monday evening at 6:00 p.m. This evening was no exception, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

John, my husband, called his mom at 8:00 a.m. to see how his dad is doing. The hospital was going to be doing some tests to see why Bud wasn't responding or swallowing. The tests showed that he either had a stroke or his Alzheimers was so advanced that the disease wasn't letting him even remember how to swallow or move. This is so sad and it seems so sudden.

John's brother, Jim, is here at the resort for the week with his wife, Laura, and their two children. So he was on the telephone to his mother too and they both decided to go to Door County to be with her. I think everything happens for a reason, and the fact that they were here this week made them able to go out there together. It is a 5 hour trip, and hopefully they had awhile in the car to talk about what to do next. Their mom is probably not prepared for this to happen yet and it will be very stressful. They left around 10:00 a.m. so will get there between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m.

John's sister, Kathy, lives with her husband and one son in the Marshall Islands. I had e-mailed her the previous night about what was going on so when I called her this morning to give her an update, she was not surprised. So now she is flying back, which takes two days. Hopefully she will make it before her dad dies. Before she could get a flight, she called the hospital and spoke with her dad, Bud, and he seemed to have a slight happy reaction to her voice on the phone, which is great.

This stuff took up a lot of our day. Our customers wanted to know what was going on and there was constant conversations about parents and how sad this all is in life. If you are blessed with a long life, this will probably happen to you too - the loss of a parent.

Earlier in the morning, as John was preparing to leave, he and I went up to the dumpster. We have had a bear getting into the dumpster so he set up a large metal sheet and chain over the dumpster. He took me up there to show me how to open it and set it back up. Our garbage gets picked up on Wednesday mornings and John noticed that the dumpster is pretty full. So he flipped back the top two, black plastic doors, put a piece of plywood on top of the garbage, and jumped on the plywood. This would compact the garbage a lot which would leave us more room until Wednesday morning. He climbed back out, we set up the dumpster and then we tried to move the car toward the door for him to pack, etc.

It wouldn't start. When I took my niece and nephew to the Wampum shop on Tuesday, the little niece didn't shut her door all the way. The dome light had been on for almost a week. The battery was completely dead. We pulled our old, beat up minivan over to the car, hooked up the jumper cables and we finally got it started. Then we let it run for awhile while John and his brother packed, got ready to go and finally left.

Tomorrow is recycling day pick up, so after pot luck I took the ATV/trailer and put the garbage from the pot luck, which is a huge bag, the recycling from the lodge, which is a huge container and very heavy, in the trailer. I drove it down to the campfire area, emptied the garbage and recycling from down there into the trailer, picked up another can from another area of the resort, and went up to the dumpsters. I had to take a bunch of cardboard out of the recycling dumpster. We have a separate area to the left of the recycling dumpster that has a large label on it that reads, "Cardboard recycling". I guess people just don't look around or something. We also have a big, 4 foot tall, black garbage can in front of the recycling bin labeled, "Alum. Cans for Mercer School". The letters are at least 8 inches high and people don't see that either. Or they don't care about taking out their cans first. Either way, John or I end up taking out aluminum cans from the dumpster too. There was also some garbage thrown in the recycling dumpster, which happens a lot. So the recycling took me longer than it should have. Afterward I spent a long time washing my hands and arms in our bathroom. It was a dirty job.

I spent the rest of the evening with customers down on the beach. The humidity was so thick in the air that I kept thinking I had to clean off my glasses. If we looked across the lake, it looked like there was a fog. The patio door on our basement had condensation on it so thick I could hardly see through it. The temperature was only about 70 degrees, so it was beautiful, but it felt like a tropical jungle. The kids were all swimming, and when the sun set, the sky lit up everything in a pink glow. It was beautiful and with the loons calling, geese flying right over our heads and the laughter of the kids, it was an awesome evening. I wish John would have been here to share it with us.

Later I turned on the Brewers game and people were in the lodge listening and watching the game until late. I had to serve some drinks, which doesn't happen often, but it was fun too. I got to bed late again, so that's why this is typed up the next day again. Hopefully I'll catch up with tonight's blog tonight.

19 days of 365 of what it is like to run a resort

Sunday's are usually my day of rest. I at least try to take it easy on Sundays. I went to church with a relative, then went to the grocery store to get a paper, etc. John likes to read the Journal/Sentinel and then share the paper with customers. I made lunch, kept it on warm so people could eat whenever they were hungry and headed down to the beach. I said hello to some customers I had not seen yet this week and talked for awhile.

Our neighbor, Liz, came by with some more candles to sell in our lodge. We have a few shelves that we offer items for sale. She asked for our famous root beer floats, and we talked. She put her candles up on our shelves and then we headed back down to the beach. Right now there are candles, CD's, sewing items and cards for sale in the lodge. Liz has two boys who are adorable and love to come down to the resort and spend time with the other kids. We sat on the beach adirondack chairs and talked for awhile while we watched her kids swim. She told me the story of the bear that got into her garbage. She has a little mud room attached to her front entrance and their garbage is kept in there. Apparently a bear got into that room, lifted a plastic bag containing an old printer off the garbage, set the printer on the floor, and then took out the bag of garbage. She said the printer/bag was sitting straight up and didn't have a rip in it or anything. The garbage was then dragged by the bear into the woods. Their 2 dogs were going crazy so she looked out and saw the bear. Her husband, Matt, took out a gun and shot it into the air to scare away the bear, which worked. She is still shocked that the bear went into their mud room to get the garbage though. That night we caught a bear by our dumpster with the animal control live trap. She said she hasn't seen any sign of bear since, so hopefully that was the one.

It was cloudy all day but still warm so the children were down on the beach most of the day. Kayaks, paddles, surf boards, paddle boats and the like were strewn everywhere. So later in the day I went down to the beach and cleaned it up a little. If we don't do this, there won't be any beach because all the boats would be covering it. So I repositioned some boats and picked up some garbage on the point. The point has our beach, 2 docks, a boat landing, 2 bench swings, canoes, kayaks, sail boats, sail boards, 2 picnic tables and many chairs on it. There is also a bulletin board by the boat landing for invasive species awareness for boaters, etc. We have a raft floating about 20 feet off of shore over about 12 feet or more of depth. There's a diving platform on the raft and the kids love to jump off of it. There isn't any spring to the board, so its just like walking the plank, but its still fun. If I don't reposition the boats, they will cover our small beach area and that wouldn't be fun for the little kids. We have a large pier covered with carpet on the back of the point for our kayaks. People have a tendency to take the kayaks off of that pier and then return them to the sandy beach. We try to tell everyone to return them to where they got them, but it seems almost impossible to get that point across.

John made a couple garbage runs today to unlock the bear protection on the dumpster and put the bags in. He has the dumpster tightened down in case a bear comes around again. We don't want any bear to think of our dumpster as food so we keep it locked at all times.

I did some laundry and hung it outside to dry then I organized the cleaning supplies a little. Laundry pick up is Tuesday and if I don't get it down when I'm thinking about it, I might forget. The laundry bin is as tall as I am now and ready for pick up.

Later in the day I had to yell at some kids who were playing on our pontoon. The older boys, 13 and 10 were trying to start the pontoon, and when it wouldn't, they started messing with the cables that went to the motor. Now John and I have to try to see if they messed up anything. They also were throwing around the running lights/poles we have. Hopefully they are not broken. We gave them a lecture and hopefully they will be more respectful of us now.

Later in the day John and his brother, who is here with his family for the week, decided to go and help their mom. Their dad is in the hospital and possibly had a stroke. So they will leave on Monday to be there to support her. She really needs their help right now and she sounded very stressed on the telephone. Hopefully Bud will pull through.

So John and I were up until around 11:30 p.m. doing bills and making out deposits and figuring out bills. John might be gone for a few days or longer depending on how his dad is doing. So he wanted to prepare. Monday morning at 8 a.m. he and his brother will be calling their mother to see how their dad is doing before they leave. So we went to bed late.