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.
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