135-136 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Saturday, November 27, 2010 and Sunday, Nov. 28.

We picked up the huge U-Haul this morning. It has enough room for us to put our riding snowblower, snowmobile, ATV, queen mattress and other stuff in. We are going to be leaving on Monday so that gives us some time to load it up.

Before we leave the resort we have some work to do. John made sure the heat and the back-up heater were working in the pump house. The last thing we want is for the pump to freeze up. Then while he was in the pump house, he turned off the water to the Aspen and Spruce cabins. The water is already off for the Alder cabin. That way if anything does freeze because of heater malfunctions, the water won't be pouring into a cabin. That happened to us once.

He went to the older cabins which are closed for the winter and checked the mouse traps. There were 4 mice in traps in one cabin. So we are glad they were caught, first of all, and second that he got them out of there. We don't want anything to stink. Then John made a garbage run and recycling run. He didn't want those sitting around for a month either.

I cleaned the kitchen, did some laundry, packed up my sewing machine, and got everything ready in one spot. We then took it all and put it in the truck. I put my sewing machine in my car because I didn't want it jostled around in the big truck.

Between all this we answered our telephone, took some reservations and did some paperwork.

By 6 p.m. we were ready and relaxing a little. It was a hectic day.

131-134 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Tuesday, November 23-Friday, November 26, 2010.

I'm consolidating blogs because I've been so busy. We are getting ready to leave for the winter and I have been going from sun up to sun down. John has been doing the same.

John shut the water off for Alder as I said in the last blog. After that I cleaned Aspen and Spruce. We will shut off the water to those cabins tomorrow. The heat will stay on in them until Christmas, when our New Year's customers arrive. We will be home before they get here so we will turn the water on then. It is better to have the water off in case of any freezing issues.

I put Christmas table cloths on the cabin's tables, and some other Christmas doilies, etc. in the cabins. The next time someone will be in them will be 12/25 at the earliest. I wanted some decoration in them.

We got about 6 inches of snow in 3 days. So I shoveled the deck and put salt down. Our caretaker, Dave, shoveled our sidewalk.

Dave and John have been working hard around here to get chainsaws fixed, snowblowers running, snowmobiles started, etc. We will put them in the moving van on Saturday.

I am a little apprehensive about moving to Door County for the winter. This area is where I'm from. I have a lot of friends and relatives here. I have none but my mother-in-law there. I know I can make new friends, but it will be difficult, I know.

John is more excited about the move this winter than I am. He is sleeping through the nights with no worries. Not me. I lay awake a lot of the time and wonder if I will remember everything that we need to bring. We have lists made up so I write down something I may think of, but I still can't get to sleep. This is a major life change and I'm not sure about it. There's no turning back, however. I wouldn't want to stay here now after all we've done to prepare, and hope about. I am excited about the change, just not the circumstances so much.

We are moving there to be with John's mom. Responsibilities change as we grow older. They change from children to our parents pretty quickly. It seems like my children JUST got themselves situated. Then its onto the parent(s) pretty quickly afterward. John's mom is a wonderful, kind and forgiving person. I can be hard to get along with, I know. So that is why I'm concerned and have doubts this will work. Will I make her get angry with me? Will I say something hurtful without knowing? Will I step on her toes or upset her? Chances are I will and I really don't want that to happen. I will have to try really hard to be a better person. This will not be easy for me. I'm opinionated, pushy, bossy, think I'm always right, and just go headlong into things without thinking. Hopefully I can keep those bad aspects of my personality at bay. I need to so I don't hurt her feelings or make her upset. She's 83 and has just lost her husband. It would do me good to remember that most of all.

I packed up my sewing area which took days. I had to decide what to bring and what to not bring. The major problem is I want to bring everything. I love sewing quilts and if I don't find a job in Door County to keep me busy, I will be sewing there instead. So maybe bringing almost everything is good. That way I will definitely stay busy.

John has put his ATV in the moving van. He will use that to get around, pull out trees that have fallen, transport rocks, and anything else he can think of. He also packed the snowmobile, which he will use to make cross country ski tracks on the property, which is over 100 acres. He loves to cross country ski and can be out for hours doing so. He loves to be outside.

I have had my suitcase packed for over a week. John just started packing his clothes today. He's always doing things like that at last minute.

We went up to Ironwood the other day and we bought groceries for Thanksgiving. We ran some errands too for the resort. We bought a case of toilet paper (96 ct.), cleaning supplies for the cabins, laundry detergent, etc. We wanted there to be enough here for Dave too so he could clean the cabin (Ironwood) if he rented it out. We are leaving that up to him since he would have to clean it, etc. If he rents it out, we will have to have the bar closed though. He's not able to tend bar without a bartender's license.

I spent four hours filing in the office. There were piles of paperwork everywhere. I had neglected the office for too long. We would have to take our files with us, as well as our information for filing taxes. Since we won't be back until after April 10th, I have to have the taxes ready. So I spent an entire afternoon filing. Yikes, that was boring. But now it is finished and the office looks great.

The laundry from the closed down, non-winterized cabins, is all finished and put away. The laundry from the professional laundry service is also finished and put away. That took days all together. I can relax now knowing that is finished.

When we were up in Ironwood, we also picked up Buddy's ashes. We spread a little by the Gile Falls, where we used to hike with the dogs often. We also spread a little in 2 places at the resort where he used to love to lay and watch for his favorite people. We really miss him.

Senna, our other dog, is doing well. We have been spoiling her terribly. I fill her kong toy for her every night with a bunch of treats. Now every night, around 7 p.m., if I forget, she will start barking at me. I know instantly what she wants, I get the kong, and fill it for her. She walks away with it in her mouth, wagging her tail. Afterward, she is finally able to rest and takes a nap. She is a very active dog and goes wherever John goes all day. She rarely sleeps during the day like most other dogs. She doesn't seem to miss Buddy too much though, which is probably good.

Well, I hope you are all enjoying your Thanksgiving leftovers like we are. I made Brunswick stew with ours today. Have a good day.

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

Monday, November 22, 2010.

The picture is of John and his aunt, Georgia, on our trip to Seattle in the early part of this month.

I loaded up a bag of clean laundry, cleaning rags and supplies and slowly worked my way up the icy hill to the Alder cabin. The cabin was left very clean by the deer hunters, so it went well. I cranked my favorite channel on the radio and the time flew by. I put a Christmas tablecloth on the table because the next time someone is in this cabin it will be for New Year's.

After I was finished, John brought the ATV/trailer up to the cabin for me to load everything into it. I then took it all to the Aspen cabin for tomorrow's cleaning job.

As we were eating lunch, the sky got very dark and I made a comment about it. Then about 5 minutes later, there was lightning and thunder. Our golden retriever, Senna, went bonkers. She barked and ran around the house wondering what all the noise was about. We laughed.

In a break in the weather John went out to try to get the mast of the sailboat thawed. He wanted to bring it into the basement and the recent ice was so thick, he couldn't get it apart. He worked on it for awhile and then he got it in the basement.

Then John went into the basement and turned off the water to the Alder cabin. He went up to the cabin, opened all the faucets, then back into our basement. There he drained a few gallons of water from the cabin to make sure that if something happened with the heat when we were gone next month, that it would be okay.

Then it stared to sleet, snow, rain and more sleet. We had been thinking of driving up to Ironwood for supplies and to pick up Buddy's urn of ashes. Now we decided we would stay home. The weatherman said that the roads were bad too.

John did more paperwork and I watched a movie. Later I made dinner and started/finished a Debbie Macomber book. It was a good day.

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

Sunday, November 21, 2010.

The picture is of John and his friend, Lorrie Jarrett in a pocket park in downtown Seattle. We were there earlier in the month. The park is in appreciation to all who worked for the UPS.

I got up early and went to church. It was fun to see everybody again. Its been awhile. After church I went grocery shopping in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. I forgot my list at home, bummer, so I didn't get everything but will go back before Thanksgiving anyway.

The Packers play at noon so after I got home I made some snacks to put in the lodge. Some of our deer hunters came in to watch some of the game before they hit the road. The Packers beat the Vikings and it was a great game. It turns out the Vikings fired their coach a couple of days later.

I did some laundry from the cabins. John did some paperwork. We didn't do much else outside because there was a coating of ice everywhere. I threw some salt on the sidewalks of the cabins again so none of the deer hunters would slip. John went to the Alder and Aspen cabins and turned off the hot water, refrigerators and turned down the heat. The hunters in those cabins left today. Tomorrow I will clean Alder.

John's mom walked up to the dumpsters with a bag of garbage. John was upset with her because it is up a hill of glare ice. She's 83. She said she had been worried about John because he had gone up that way and she hadn't seen him in awhile. John had taken a walk down the trail and through the woods and came out in the opposite direction. So he was even more upset with her for walking up that way on the ice.

I went into the basement later and organized more of my quilting fabric. We are going to be moving to Door County for the winter and if I don't get a job of any sort there, sewing is going to be my job. The only problem is I want to take it all with me.

Later we watched some movies and football games. No one came into the lodge for any drinks or anything. But our hunters came in to ask where they could hang the deer they shot. John talked to them for awhile about where to hang it and where our ladders were. Cool.

It was a good day.

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

Saturday, November 20, 2010. I awoke early upon hearing the deer hunters head out into the woods. They were up and out around 6 a.m. We didn't hear any gun shots all day and when I saw some hunters later in the afternoon, this is what I heard.

One hunter said he saw a doe but didn't get a good shot. Another said he saw 3 deer but they were too far away. The rest said they didn't see anything but chickadees and red squirrels. They enjoyed their days hunting regardless, so all is well.

Denny, my mother-in-law, and I went into town yesterday and picked up some DVD's. So we watched a movie today late in the afternoon. I don't recommend, "Men Who Stare At Goats" to anyone. It was really stupid.

I did four loads of laundry from the cabins today. I went up to the Maple cabin and pulled the rest of the laundry out of there and carried it down to the basement without the car. The air was crisp and cold and felt good on my face. I sorted some more laundry in the basement.

Sometime during the day I wrapped some Christmas presents, ordered some on-line, sewed a gift bag on my sewing machine, made lasagna for dinner and various other duties.

John went up to the Birch cabin and put the wood box from the front to the side of the cabin. Now it is no longer blocking the view of the rock work that Dave did. The cabin looks great.

Later in the afternoon, it started misting very strong, which promptly turned into rain and then ice. I took some salt and sprinkled it all over the cabins' walk ways and the lodge's deck.

The Badgers won, which was great and we had a very nice dinner. It was a good day.

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

Yesterday's blog included 125 and 126. So sorry if there's any confusion about the date.

Today's blog is about Friday, November 19, 2010. This is the Friday before hunting season so there are some things going on that only happen once a year.

Men's wardrobes change to blaze orange. Men can be seen carrying around large bags of apples and corn, and their trucks have gun racks that are packing. The town fills up with anxious and excited guys hoping to bag their big buck of their dreams. Tonight the bars will fill up as they all hang out in gangs to talk about previous year's hunting stories.

Their hunting clothes hang up outside on screen porches or on frozen clothes lines. They don't want them to smell like the inside of a cabin. They don't want any deer to be able to smell them when they are sitting in their deer stand tomorrow.

Even though some of the hunters are so full of alcohol that it will evaporate from their skin for over 24 hours after their night of drinking, at least their blaze orange outfits are hanging up outside. Then they have a chance.

Some of the hunters sit in their cabins playing cards and smoking cigars. The smell of the cigars will infiltrate their pants, underwear, hair, socks and boots. But at least their blaze orange outfits are hanging up outside.

After the first day when they come back with nothing, and they wonder why, they are too tired to stay up to play cards or go out drinking. They take a shower, which they probably neglected at 4 am, and land in their beds early. When they wake up to the 2nd day of hunting, they are up early, refreshed, take a shower before they head out and put on clean clothes that were in their suitcases.

They see deer and most will get their first shot at a deer this season on the second day. Some will let the does go by in hopes of seeing a buck instead. As the day wanes, they will finally see a deer again around evening and will probably get a good shot at one if not more.

If they don't get their deer on the second day, from missing their shot or not getting a good enough shot, there's still a good story there to tell. So they either play cards and smoke a cigar or go into town to the bar to talk about what they saw. Then the next day they don't see anything and wonder why. And the cycle starts over.

Now you might say that I am negative towards deer hunters. But I grew up in this area. Hunting is as much a part of my life as pine trees. I have always been an observer of other people. There will always be exceptions to my opinions, of course, but the majority fall into this idea of what I think is the cause/effect of most hunters. I think it very humorous how the generations go on and on and it is still a lot of the same. Perhaps the thrill of getting away from the women in their lives is what really makes them act the way they do. I know women really cut loose when they're away from their men. So why wouldn't the men?

Sure there are hunters out there who don't smoke or drink before hunting. I would bet money on the fact that those are usually the ones who get the big bucks. Ask around for yourself. See if I'm right.

For my entire life I was around men who would let their beards grow in anticipation of sitting in their tree stand in the cold. I was around men who would clean their guns and check their supplies in anticipation of the hunt. I listened to them get animated about getting together with the guys again. I would see those men in my life go out in their trucks, to their stands the days before hunting season to bait their piles, put up their stands in the best places and see them come back all excited. I saw them get back the next evenings with their big bucks and a grin on their faces a mile wide.

There is something elemental about a man killing an animal for food on the table. Some men need to feel that in their bones. Perhaps they are closer to the hunter of generations past than others. Who knows. But I do believe that they need to feel appreciated when they bring home the venison.

I can say for sure how I felt inside. I thought it a waste of money. I once added up all that was spent in one year in anticipation of a deer hunt and the resulting processing, etc. of the meat. The venison added up to $14 a pound. To me that wasn't worth it. But don't ask a hunter to understand this. They feel the need to kill to put meat on the table. They feel superior when they shoot an animal and I believe some even need this.

So we continue to have deer hunting season. It brings the hunters, renters, bar drinkers, gas buyers, restaurant eaters, bait buyers and happy men. Our town benefits as well as our resort by all the customers. We do not have any complaints. Certainly I do not either.

This was merely an observation of a lifetime of being around hunters. Most people have not been raised like I have and they do not know the above like I do. So I thought I would do my best to put my thoughts on cyber space. Please feel free to add yours to the comments either on Facebook or here. I would love to hear them.

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

Today is November 17, 2010, Wednesday and I also wrote about Nov. 18, Thursday.

We drove home from Door County (Wednesday). Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the Egg Harbor library looking up jobs. Today on the way out of Door, I stopped and dropped off some resumes. One of the places said they would be giving me a call to help in December. So that's good.

When we arrived in Mercer, there was snow on the ground at the resort. There's not any ice on the lake yet, but it sure is cold.

We put away some things, turned up the heat, and then went to a Town meeting. The meeting was to thank the Town for donating $10,000 to the library's expansion. We wanted to be there.

When we got home, we had to look at a tree that was leaning on the wires. Another one! We talked to our caretaker about it and he offered to help take it down. We didn't need his help late that night but might tomorrow. John thinks he can do it himself.

So the next day, Thursday, John and I dove into the paperwork, went to the bank to sign some papers, came home, ate some snacks and then went to work on the tree.

We got the ladder, chain saw, ATV, trailer and trimmers. I went to the pump house where the breakers are and turned off the power to the wires. Then I held the ladder while John cut down the tree. It was a little dangerous when the tree gave and fell, but we were all fine and didn't even get a scratch. Phew!

John's mom arrived late today and I made hamburgers for dinner. The meat is from some customers who raise black angus. It was very tasty and we are very full.

We did so much paperwork this morning because of the pile of mail that was waiting for us. I filed a bunch, John worked on a lot of e-mails and mail. Then he made a call to the Chamber. Our ad in a Tourist Guide was incorrect. He fixed it and then got into a lengthy conversation with the Chamber of Commerce's President. John had some concerns regarding a bogus "award" that is being offered to our resort.

The reward is for, "Voted the Best Resort for 2010". Just send in $65 and we will send you your reward that was voted on for you. Last year another resort went and bought the reward, and now they are using it in their advertising. When we got it next, John was very suspicious and started asking questions. It turns out the reward was not awarded to us from any voting, whatsoever. They just want you to buy a crystal, engraved trophy for $65 that probably cost them $10 to make. John was concerned that the Chamber was sort of allowing this to happen, and that it was because they were unaware of the false advertising. They had a nice talk.

So now its back to the resort to get ready for customers, some of who arrive tomorrow for deer hunting. Time to wear blaze orange again.

118-124 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Hello, all. I have been unable to get to a computer or wi-fi for seven days. Yipes! So I will consolidate the days I missed into one. Soon we will have a computer set up in Door County, our winter home. Then we shouldn't miss you so much.

Today's date is Nov. 16, 2010. Yesterday I pounded the pavement in Sturgeon Bay, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek and Sister Bay for jobs. This is the same type of town that I live in - tourist town. So jobs will be impossible to find. If something turns up, it will be a miracle. But at least I have tried and will continue to try.

We closed down our resort for the winter. We will have customers for deer hunting starting this Saturday through the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Then I will serve Thanksgiving dinner to my son, husband and whoever wants to come over. Then we go back to Door County until December 20. We will go back to Mercer for our New Year's customers and after they leave, that's it until May. So we will be living in Door County for the winter.

John and I are very excited to be trying something new in our lives. He bought the resort in 1998 and has been running the resort ever since. He is excited to start a new life in Door County for the winters.

We went for a short trip to the Seattle area to visit John's aunt, Georgia. She is 85 years old and has been on hospice for awhile. She recognized John when we saw her, but not me. She enjoyed our company for four days straight and then we flew back home. We spent a lot of time visiting with our friend, Lorrie, while we were there and our other friend, Laurie Rauch. She used to live next door to us. So we had some fun inbetween visiting Aunt Georgia.

John feels like he is on an extended vacation. Door County is much more mild than Mercer. In fact, Mercer just got snow. We had 50 degrees and sunshine.

It will be hard for me not to have something to do while I am in Door County. So I went around looking for jobs all day yesterday. No one said they were hiring. I went to every bakery, inn, WalMart, grocery store, Target and Younkers. I applied at them all and there are a lot of bakeries. We'll see what happens. I always wanted to work in a bakery.

So today I got some time to try the library here in Egg Harbor. There are not a lot of hours they are open, so it was difficult to get in.

So now I have to go. I have to look on-line for more jobs and then I go to an Altrusa meeting for dinner. I will be meeting some local ladies and learning how to help children read or something like that. Its a volunteer position, which will at least give me something to do in the meantime.

Thanks for reading my blogs and I hope I will be able to get more old stories out soon.

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

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

We are back in Wisconsin now. Last night's dinner with friends was very fun. Today we will go on a hike, shop a little and then John will go by his brother's and I will make dinner for my hard working friend's family. I love to cook.

This story is about food.

Every week the customers would arrive on Saturday, and then leave on the next Saturday. Sometimes they would never meet the other resort people.

John and I heard a lot of stories from customers about previous owners and what they would do that was different from what we were doing. One of the things was that the previous owners used to feed the bears right on the resort grass. No thanks on that one.

Another story was that the customers would fish all week, keep the fish in their freezers, and on Friday they would have a fish fry. The only problem with that was that our resort has become more of a family resort than a fishing resort. There would never be enough fish for an entire resort fish fry. So that was out. The next story we heard took hold.

On Monday nights two owners previous used to have pot lucks. Everyone would bring a dish to pass and all the customers would get to see who was there for the week. This sounded great. So we asked some customers when they arrived on Saturday if they would like to do this. The majority agreed so we held our first pot luck that Monday. It was a success. We found it was also a very good way for people's kids to meet the other kids that week, which made making friends all the more easy.

I made a sign and put it on the door of the lodge. Each week I would explain what the pot luck was about. One week I had to change the "pot luck" part to something like "bring your dinner to the lodge". John liked the pot luck but told me this was my idea to start this, so this would be my job. I didn't mind.

One time a large family of 4 kids and two adults brought a small container of cole slaw. That night there wasn't near enough food. So I changed my rules. The pot luck became Monday night buffet. You bring whatever you were going to make for dinner to the lodge, and then we all share it. Still there were some who didn't understand. They would bring their plates from their cabin with their dinner on them, and sit down with the rest of us. That was okay, but I felt the need to explain the concept of sharing. So I did.

Now as many years have gone by, people love the buffet. Some weeks the ladies try to outdo their friends, which benefits all of us.

The Monday night pot luck/buffet is a great way to meet everyone who is at the resort for the week and to have a party. It has been working well and everyone enjoys it, especially those who attend. It is not a requirement that people attend, so some enjoy the peace and quiet of the resort on Monday nights while everyone else is in the lodge. We don't mind if someone doesn't attend. We just feel bad that they're missing out on all the fun.

On the hot days we have to open every window and door wide. We put fans on and sit out on the deck.

On the rainy Monday nights, I cover the foos ball table for extra seating, add extra chairs and tables and we all cram into the lodge. It works out fine.

I think the pot lucks have also enhanced our lives at the resort. We get some time to talk to everybody and they get to see the lodge. It has worked out very well.

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

Monday, November 8, 2010.

We got up at 5 am to fly back to Milwaukee. The flight went well and we arrived an hour late anyway. Then we drove to see some friends for dinner at the Delafield Brew House. It was very fun.

This story is about my daughter's experience at our resort. I hope she likes the story.

We had my daughter living with us at the resort for awhile. My son moved in with his dad almost right away. So she had one of the 3 bedrooms on the corner of the lodge. It has a window that opens onto the main deck of the lodge.

One night, after a day of hanging out with teenagers at the resort, one of the boys came a knocking on her window. My daughter was only 15 at the time.

John and I were in the bedroom right next door and we could hear everything they were saying. He was blatant enough to take the screen off of her window and then he tried to coax her outside.

John was worried and I told him not to worry. I trusted her completely and "Just wait." I said, "She'll kick him out."

Sure enough the screen went back on and he went away. It turned out that the next day my daughter found out that since he wasn't successful with her, that he went after another girl at the resort. That girl went into a cabin with him and they were found just in time by a mother. That boy was nasty trouble.

Later the next day the group of kids all went for a walk down the road with fireworks. We wouldn't let them shoot them off at the resort. So they thought they would just shoot them off down the road.

After walking for awhile, they decided to go to a "field" off the road and shoot them off. Didn't they think that a "field" that is mowed is private property? I guess not. Soon enough that owner of that property kicked them off and they all came back to the resort. We got a call from the neighbor complaining too.

It also turns out that the same boy who tried to take my daughter out in the dark of night, was the same boy who had the bright idea to shoot off the fireworks in the neighbor's yard.

So the day after that we had a talk with his guardians. We told them that he was not welcome back at the resort because of the fact that he tried to get into my daughter's bedroom, tried to have sex with another customer's daughter, and then trespassed and shot off fireworks in a neighbor's property. They agreed and said that he was trouble. He never came back and no one ever tried these things again, yet.

We had other troubles with bad customers, but never another adolescent boy like this one. I hope we don't ever again. That's not to say that the other kids were totally innocent, and we talked to all of them separately about our concerns. Those other kids came back to our resort many times and we never had trouble with any of them ever again.

Maybe we'll have some issues with teenagers again, but for now we've been very lucky.

115 of 365 of What it is Like To Run a Resort

Sunday, November 7, 2010

We went back to Seattle today after hiking around the southwestern tip of the State of Washington. It was very beautiful and we even saw a double rainbow.

I have a very short "story" this time.

When I first started dating John, his friend, Tom, lived at the resort also. They were two bachelors running the resort by themselves.

One time John went to the dumpster on a Saturday to put some garbage in. There on top of all the garbage, lying there perfectly alone, was a big bag of unopened potatoes. He was very tempted to grab them. Then he remembered the Seinfeld episode where George grabbed a donut off the top of a garbage can and what happened. So John didn't take the potatoes. From that time forward, he swore he would start telling customers not to throw away any good food.

Weeks later, and after telling a lot of customers to give them good food, I arrived onto the scene. The first night I was going to eat dinner there, I thought John would make me dinner. I was surprised to find that I was supposed to eat from the many offerings of customers. John pulled out 3 large bowls of various left overs. Then he pulled out containers of Tupperware and even plastic bags full of food. He told me that the customers left "all this stuff" and to "help yourself-just put it on a plate and warm it up".

Now I'm not sure how most of you would have reacted to this. In fact, I wasn't sure how I should react. I slowly and tentatively looked at the food they were digging into with fervor. There was spaghetti and meatballs, noodle salads, sandwich meat and cheese and much more. It all looked good, and after I smelled the food that they were heating up in the microwave, I caved in.

From that point on, we have been eating what the customers give us. Some weeks we don't get anything, but other weeks, it is a buffet of gourmet offerings.

Why should they throw out perfectly good food? If they don't have room for it in their coolers or if they don't have coolers, give it to us we say.

Sometimes we throw away the bad food or food that is left over from a restaurant. Maybe they ate half and left the other half in the refrigerator, which we won't touch. Sometimes the food is unidentifiable, such as something in a red sauce - spaghetti sauce or tomato puree? Who knows. But more times than not, we have received some very good quality food.

Because of this, we have an inordinate amount of mustard, catsup, mayo and sauces. So if you're ever going to stay and want to buy some at the store, ask us first. We'd be happy to share.

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

Saturday, November 6, 2010.

We are still in Washington State and today we went to Bainbridge Island on the ferry. We did more but I won't get into the details. I promised you old stories on the days I'm not home. So here's another one or two, depending on how long I feel like typing.

When John and I were just dating for maybe a few weeks, I came up to the resort on a weekend that my two kids were at their father's. I was just getting to know that I was falling for John and I was really wanting to know what it would be like to spend more time at the resort. So I packed my things and decided to stay on his couch this particular weekend.

I was talking to John and customers at the campfire at night. We were all sitting around and there was a lot of laughter. John's friend, Tom, who also lived at the resort, was also at the campfire, as well as the neighbors Laurie and Paul. Tom was living at the resort since he had gone through a divorce. He did a lot of work around the resort in return for rent fees, etc. John appreciated the help and had 3 bedrooms so there was plenty of room for Tom and if Tom's grown kids came to visit.

Anyway we were all sitting around the campfire and I loved the sense of humor that the customers and all of the group had. The later it got, the funnier it was. I love jokes and love to laugh so I was joining right in. Then the jokes started about JB. JB this and JB that. JB will do it, JB does everything for John, JB will take care of it, ha, ha, ha. Finally I asked what JB meant. That's when they said it meant, "John's Bitch". I was shocked. Had they been talking about me? Had they been calling me that?

I had been helping John all day around the resort and I was a little shocked that they would call me that, but I have thick skin, I think. So I took it all in stride. The humor kept up about how just ask, JB. Then I heard someone say, JB will do it, HE'LL do anything. So now I wondered who they were talking about. Maybe it was a mistake and that it wasn't about me. So I listened more intently.

Tom was sitting by the campfire still and suddenly he got up and said, "That's it, I'm outa here." I thought maybe he was getting sick of the fact that the group was picking on me or something.

Then John said that we should go up too. The neighbor, Paul, said to ask JB to fix the pier tomorrow and then laughed. The group around the campfire appeared to have enough of this repeated joke and didn't laugh too much anymore. Paul had a tendency to repeat something funny until it wasn't funny any more. I did not know this at the time. I was still thinking they had been talking about me.

When John and I got into the lodge, I asked him how long they had been calling me JB. I said I couldn't believe that they were calling me that, especially since I didn't know them that well. He laughed uproariously with Tom for a long time.

John and Tom then told me that it wasn't me they were talking about when they said, JB. John's Bitch was supposedly Tom. Tom would almost always do any job around the resort that needed to be done or that John would ask him to do. So the customers and neighbors teasingly called him, JB.

We all got a good laugh about that and John said that he was especially glad that he and I were dating. He was a little worried that there might be rumors that he and Tom were a couple, if you know what I mean. So since John was actually dating me, people then felt they could joke about it and they sure did.

I said that I thought that was funny now too, but then Tom said he didn't very much but he laughed too. The entire joke died that night though because I would tell people that I thought they meant it was me initially. That made them laugh and then it wasn't about Tom anymore. He was very happy that I had somehow transferred the joke away from him.

I hope you enjoyed this story.

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

Friday, November 5, 2010

We are in Seattle now and today we went downtown. I wanted to see Pioneer Square and that's what we did. I'm so spoiled.

But I promised old stories on the days I'm not at the resort. So here's one for you and I hope you enjoy it.

We had some friends come up to the resort in their large RV. We aren't supposed to have any RV's in our resort area per the restrictions of the condo association. So we were a little worried when they pulled up.

The husband, lets call him Anton, to protect his identity, has a disability so he needed the RV for its air conditioning. His disability is at such a high level that he can only use a couple fingers to move his automated chair, and he cannot sweat. So if he cannot sweat, he needs air conditioning.

His wife, lets call her Angie, to protect her identity, wanted to go kayaking with our group. So she took a few of their children along on the trip. She is a little on the heavy side and has a bad knee so we told her that she might need to get out of the kayak on the river and "Are you sure you want to go?". The river was low that year. She swore she would be okay and off we went.

When the river got low and she had to get out, she started yelling at her kids to help her. She yelled very loudly and it shocked John a little. He thought she was in severe pain or something. After he ascertained that she was okay and that she was just a little stressed that her kids weren't helping her fast enough, they all got out. They moved the kayaks over the rocks and shallow area, and continued their trip.

Much later after all of the group was back and the rest of the week went well, it was time to leave. We could hear her yelling very loudly again and so we sort of ignored it for awhile. This was a Saturday, or our change over day where we are extremely busy. So John and I were extremely shocked to hear the huge bell being rung outside of the resort entrance.

The bell that is by the lodge entrance is used only for emergencies, if someone caught a huge fish, or for Monday night pot lucks. So when we heard it ringing, we ran over, or I should say that I ran over and John walked as fast as he could.

Angie was at the entrance screaming at me to hurry and waving her arms in the air. At intervals she was also screaming at one of her daughters for how "stupid" she had been. So here's what happened.

Their RV had been parked behind one of our cabins. They had put cement blocks behind and in front of the wheels of the RV to keep it from moving. The daughter was in charge of moving those blocks out of the way. Apparently she forgot one and when they started pulling the RV, it rolled over a cement block and landed on it. The impact punctured a hole in the RV's septic tank and their septic proceeded to empty itself in our resort.

As they continued to drive away, the septic continued to empty up our driveway. Do I need to describe this to you? I don't think so. You can imagine what it looked like and what it smelled like I think without me getting into it.

Now I saw what she had been panicking about. I told her to just take the RV out of here quickly and get into town. I refered her to Mercer Rentals for them to fix it and off they went. I stood there with John as we shook our heads. This wasn't going to be easy.

Luckily most of the stuff emptied onto a gravel driveway. We asked our neighbor to come with his front end loader and he took a huge scoop of it and dumped it way back in our woods, away from all water or possible water sources. He then dumped some sand over it and the majority of it was taken care of.

John and I got 5 gallon buckets and emptied water onto the stream of smell going up the driveway. The water washed away the stench and fertilized the grass it ran into. We were finished fairly quickly and the next customers to arrive didn't smell anything but fresh air. Phew!

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

Thursday, November 4, 2010:

The picture is of an eagle way up in a tree on Owl Lake. We kayaked there a couple days ago.

Boy oh boy did we have the work to do before we left. John wanted to do our wills in case our airplane crashed and burned. I gave him a look, like, why didn't we do this sooner then? He said he had been putting it off and now, as we are supposed to be on the road, we start discussing a will. So he took out a copy of his aunt's will to use as an example, and I just put in our information as I retyped it. About an hour later we were finished, but I sure was not happy about this last minute idea. He always does that when we are going on a trip. He will think of something to do last minute and its all important and has to be done before we leave. Its frustrating because I had so much to do anyway.

I finished drying a load of laundry and put that away. I packed all my stuff into the suitcases and loaded them, as well as one of John's bags in the car. I fed the dog, did the dishes, took up the garbage, made out a deposit, got an old sheet for the back seat of the car for the dog, wrote a note for Dave our caretaker, turned down the heat, and then I waited. I had to wait for John to finish packing. Again, he had waited until the last minute to finish packing his last suitcase so we put his last suitcase in and finally left at 12:10. We had wanted to leave by 10 a.m. but because of his last minute stuff, we were late.

Our flight was leaving at 8:15 p.m. so we were supposed to be there at least 45 minutes prior to departure. We arrived at John's brother's in Whitefish Bay, which is a suburb of Milwaukee, at 6 p.m., ate dinner, left our dog there, drove to the airport in construction and delays, got checked in right away, walked to our gate and almost right onto the plane. John remarked about how he would have liked to get here sooner next time. You think? If we would have had one little problem along the way, we wouldn't have made it.

We arrived in Seattle and got to our hotel fine. The trees are all still in color here and mostly green. There are rhododendrons and azaleas and other flowers right outside our window. We've gone to a tropical zone. The air smells like its a greenhouse and that's wonderful.

I checked our e-mails in our room with our new lap top a friend gave us, and found out no one needed us today. It is quite a relief knowing that Dave is taking care of the resort for us when we are gone. We talked about how well that has been working out and how great that it all fell into place. Leaving 9 cabins and a lodge all alone can be nerve racking.

So tomorrow we will spend the day in the Seattle area visiting John's aunt, Georgia, and at either Pikes Place Market or Pioneer Square and maybe even take a ferry or something on the sound. Then the day after that we will probably drive to either the ocean, Columbia River Gorge or Mt. Ranier after visiting his aunt again. Since I won't be running the resort during those days, I will blog about previous stories. There are a lot of funny and/or bad things that happened over the years. So I will talk about some of those.

John especially needed a vacation since he hasn't taken one in years. He has been spending every possible vacation time with his parents and now his mom. He is excited to be away from Mercer and is eager to have some fun. Even though we will be visiting his sick aunt, John has scheduled a lot of fun into our trip too, which is good. I think he really needed it. We had to say goodbye to his father this last August and then our dog, Buddy, this last week. We need some happy time and even though Georgia is not doing well, she has lived a very long and fun life.

Georgia and her former husband, Bob, had been at our resort a lot of times since I met John. In fact the night he decided to ask me out on our first date was when he was at the Little Bohemia for dinner with Georgia and Bob and I had been there with some friends. He sat his aunt and uncle down at the bar, and came over to talk with me and my friends. The next day he asked me out and the rest is history. So Georgia perhaps played an integral part in our relationship. I will have to remind her of that tomorrow. Bob also taught me how to fly fish, which I will be eternally grateful for. Well, time for bed especially since its about 2 a.m. back home. I'm glad we'll be setting our clocks back two hours here in 2 days. We'll need to catch up on sleep.

I can hear the jets going over and I am reminded that I'm not in Wisconsin anymore. I am excited and know it will be difficult to sleep. It was a good day.

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

Wednesday, November 3, 2010.

I got up and hit the ground running. Even before I got dressed I started rearranging the furniture in the lodge. I had my pajamas on as I moved the lodge's log futon, moved chairs around and set up a portable table. I got dressed and then swept, vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. Making a cake was fun and after I did that I made breakfast for myself.

A couple of hours later the Chamber of Commerce Board members started to arrive. They brought food, snacks and desserts. There were so many food items that I didn't need my chocolate/coffee cake. So I will take that to Milwaukee tomorrow.

John and I were told to introduce ourselves and then everyone at the meeting did after us. I looked around after John introduced himself and saw that everyone was listening intently. John rarely goes out into town and I wondered if a lot of them had ever seen him. I'm sure they had heard of him and all he has done for people with disabilities. So it was nice that they finally got to meet him. It was also nice that the Chamber met here. They got to see our view and the layout of our cabins, which we think is great. John got in his two cents worth regarding promoting our Turtle River chain. It seems like Mercer is only promoting the Turtle Flambeau Flowage and are forgetting all the other wonderful things we have to offer.

I only wanted to speak for 2 minutes wherein I said I was from Woodruff and that I moved up here in 2000. Then we ate lunch. People talked a little bit and then their meeting started. I liked that we weren't required to attend, in fact, we were told that it was not a meeting we could have put any verbal input into. So we left.

I went around the outside of our house to the basement and did some laundry. I was down there for quite awhile and then I heard some clapping and moving about. So I went upstairs to see if anyone wanted a soda or drink or anything and they did. They then invited us to attend the rest of the meeting(s) and I did. John was working on paperwork in readiness for our trip to Seattle tomorrow night so he didn't attend.

Around 7 p.m. they were gone and I was exhausted. I had been running around cleaning up after the mess and cleaning up the kitchen. Now I was finished and made us all dinner.

Earlier I had gone up to the Birch cabin to talk with Dave. John had told me that Dave was up there putting the cultured stone on the front of the cabin, and he wanted me to tell him what my thoughts were on the bathroom of that cabin. Dave was going to fix it up. We talked about it, took some measurements, and brought John over. When we were outside looking at the Birch cabin, we noticed another squirrel hole in the outside wall - those BUGGERS! Dave said he would fix it.

After that I helped John finish the plumbing in the Maple cabin. He doesn't like how the plumbers finished the plumbing in there. It is very difficult to shut down for the winter and get all the water out of the pipes. He worked in there until after 7:30 p.m.

Later we finished packing for our trip and I confirmed our flight on-line. We were going to have to do some more paperwork and such tomorrow, but for now we were too tired to do anymore. It was a good day.

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

Today's blog is for Tuesday, November 2, 2010.

Before I was even awake, but fully dressed, John and I left for the Town Hall. I dropped off the two pies and cookies I made yesterday for the library's bake sale. Then we voted. Everyone should vote and at least pay attention to the voting going on. Otherwise, in my opinion, you don't have a right to complain about our government or taxes or anything about our state, etc.

Then we got back home, I ate breakfast and checked my Facebook and e-mails. John and I did some paperwork and then we loaded up the minivan with our kayak and our dog. We headed out to Owl Lake where we saw a beaver house (picture) and an eagle in a tree above a campsite (picture). The lake doesn't have any houses on the north side, which is pretty awesome. We saw an otter swim in front of us and climb up a bank but none of my pictures turned out of it. They'll just have to be memory shots. The sun was shining and was very warm. It was a beautiful day for a kayak outing before we would put them away for the winter.

John did most of the paddling and I was just a lazy observer as I sat in the sun and looked at the beautiful scenery. I did paddle a couple of times, though, just to say I did. Senna, our golden retriever, was between John's knees and lying down with her head hanging over the side of the boat. She is so cute. She saw the otter too and her ears perked up when she saw it.

After awhile we headed back home. I cleaned the last half of the Spruce cabin. It didn't take me long but I had been putting it off for days. I cleaned the bathroom, did the windows and dusted and then finally vacuumed. I had a difficult time opening the back of our minivan again to put the cleaning stuff into it, but that's the last time I will be using the van.

I drove the van down to the basement, unloaded all the cleaning supplies and then cleaned out the minivan of everything. I found John's long, lost camera in the glove compartment where he supposedly looked for it several times. Men! Then I drove the minivan over to our Ironwood cabin, which Dave was staying in. John and I had loaded it up with two kayaks first so that when Dave got back from work, he and John could take the kayaks and store them in the basement of Ironwood. We put a Bilco door or cellar door on the side of Ironwood just so we could store our kayaks down there.

I went into the house, did some laundry again, and then took a much needed shower. Afterwards I rested, watched a movie, ate cereal for dinner and read my book. I had made a huge lunch for us earlier, so neither John nor I cared for anything much for dinner.

John came in from his work and said that he and Dave and Steve, Dave's friend/relative, had unloaded all the kayaks and put them all in the basement. Then they put away the boats, loaded all the life jackets in the shed and finished with all the work to winterize the resort. This is a great load off of John's mind.

It was a good day.

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

Today's blog is for Monday, November 1, 2010.

The picture was taken from the kayak. John wanted the resort in the background so this is what our resort looks like from the water. Senna, our golden retriever, looks on.

Tomorrow is our day to vote and I volunteered to make some baked goods for the library's bake sale. Nothing is better than the smell of cookies or something good baking in the oven. I love to cook and bake and many of our customers have found out the easy way. Today I will make an apple/pecan pie, a sweet potato pie, and some kind of cookie. I think I will make some almond cookies. So I started and about 2 hours later I was finished, everything was ready to be wrapped up, and the house smelled wonderful.

Now it was time for laundry. I walked up the hill in the sunshine to the Maple and Birch cabins. I pulled out all the laundry from the Birch cabin and it was so heavy, I wish Senna could have helped me. At least she was keeping me company up and back.

The Birch cabin is one of our authentic log cabins which was built in 1938. It has a rock fireplace and a screen porch right up from the lake. It is one of our customers' favorites. I went in and loaded up the bag full of laundry and then took it down to the basement laundry. I did this 3 times and finally all the laundry is out. I did 3 loads of laundry and then called it quits because I didn't have any more room on my basement clothes lines for the damp laundry to finish drying.

John needed to do some laundry so it was a good thing I stopped the laundry when I did. We have to start packing for our trip to Seattle in two days. We will be visiting John's aunt, Georgia, who is very sick. We will be spending a week there.

For the days of my blog when we are in Seattle, I will be writing about stories of things that happened in the past. There are going to be some really fun stories and I hope you will think so too.

John asked me if I could help him load a boat motor onto the wall holder in the basement. So he and I lifted a Mercury 8 hp motor up about four feet onto an old holder made out of 2X4's. After we lifted that one up, we went outside and got the second one off the trailer, brought it into the basement, and then loaded that one up too. John had done most of the work already getting the motors off of the boats and into the trailer. He said the high water really helped this year and that was why he didn't ask for my help up until then.

Then we had to take out some piers. The sun was shining and the lake looked beautiful. We have so many bays on our lake that when the sun starts to set, it is fun to see which ones have sun light on them and which bays are dark. Anyway we had waited for Dave, our "caretaker" to help and since he had just returned from his day job, we started on the main pier.

John put his chest waders on and walked out to the bench of the pier so he could lift the wheels over the rocks. I got into the Toyota LandCruiser and with the rope attached to the pier, and pulled the pier out slowly by backing up the Toyota. Dave was at the base of the pier and he lifted it so it wouldn't drag. I backed up the Toyota as far as we needed and then we did a little by hand. After we got the pier right where we wanted it, I ran to get the ATV. I backed it up to the pier, tied a rope to the ATV and then I pulled the entire pier up the boat ramp to the side of our point, with the guys guiding it along. It was now out of the way for the winter. Phew! That was a lot of work, especially for the guys.

Then John mentioned that since we were both here that we should pull out the pier on the point. We moved it into the shore area about a foot at a time. Soon that one was out too. I was finished for the day and went in to make dinner. John and Dave finished the pier by the Ironwood cabin too, which amazed me. I thought we had all done enough already. They did a lot of work today.

John was sore for awhile and his arms and hands hurt. So after dinner he relaxed on the sofa to watch television and read the paper. I did the dishes and then relaxed too. It was a good day.

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

Sunday, October 31, 2010.

There aren't any pictures this time, sorry. I am trying to run this through Internet Explorer instead of Mozilla Firefox and it is giving me a difficult time. I wondered if it would be faster and it appears to be, but I have to "find" my pictures and I don't want to take the time right now.

It is Sunday morning again and I went to church, as I think everybody should. Going to church humbles a person and we all need to be a little more humble, right?

After church I got a Milwaukee Journal and said hello to some friends in the BP where I got the paper.

When I got home, I helped John answer some e-mails and did some computer work with him. Then I went to the Spruce cabin to start the cleaning process there. I wanted to get at least half of it cleaned before noon, when the Packers will play.

I finished cleaning the kitchen and made the beds in the Spruce cabin at about 11:50 a.m. Then I quickly turned on the pre-game and made us some lunch. I made French toast, Nueske's bacon and hash browns. John had been working on his mom's flight arrangements for Majuro, Marshall Islands, and he was getting frustrated. So he enjoyed the break of the game and a nice lunch.

During the game Dave came into the lodge and asked for a spray bottle for water. It was during the last two minutes so I didn't want to miss the game. So I told him there was a water bottle on my ironing board in the basement and he went to get it. Later I realized how rude that was of me, especially since he is putting cultured stone on one of our cabins, and I will have to apologize. The Packers won in their first away game that was a total shut out since 1991.

After the game I did some laundry and sewing. Maple cabin is shut down now so I have all that laundry to do too. I went up there and made a trip back with an arm full. Later I took a laundry bag up there and filled it as well as carried an arm full back down to the laundry room. I took Senna for a long walk too, which she loved.

John worked on the piers in the lagoon and boats. He said he bailed the boats for about an hour with his hands in the cold water the entire time. That was ice cold! Then he said that the boats had so much water in them that he "couldn't believe it". We had received a lot of rain in the last week, but it was mostly at night. So we weren't aware of how much we received until he looked at the boats. He will be taking out some of the boats tomorrow.

Later John watched football until very late and I finished a book I was reading, "Firefly Lane" by Kristin Hannah. It was a tear jerker but a great book about a lifelong friendship between two women on two very different paths. I had never read a book about growing up in the same time period as I did and it was so fun reading about that. It was a good day.