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

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - my last blog entry. I said I would do this for 365 days and here is the last day. It was so fun to hear your comments and positive feedback.

I love to write, even if some of my blogs did not show it. Sometimes I was so busy that I couldn't even blog for days. Some days I was too tired to even lift a finger. But whatever the case, I enjoyed it thoroughly overall. I hope you did too.

Wednesday was a fun day. A group went out kayaking and we helped them strap on the kayaks. John mostly helped. I was sitting at the campfire cooking polish sausage for lunch. After lunch I made pudgie pies of apple pie filling and raisin bread. They were very good, especially when cooked over the fire.

Our niece, Jaeden, went out fishing with her new friend, Gabbi. Gabbi and her dad are our customers and they took Jaeden out fishing because the girls are very close in age and have been hanging out together. They caught 10 fish each and then stopped and came back. They were all caught within a hour and a half. They had a lot of fun.

Some customers came into the lodge and played the piano a bit. That was beautiful. We have an old upright piano in the lodge. John and I don't know how to play it but love it when customers do.

Orla, our puppy, has been really tired every evening. She has been playing with everyone and has sometimes even taken a walk with customers on our many woodland trails. She is a wonderful addition to the resort and is well loved. She will love it here and we hope she lives a very long time because she is loved much.

I baked some chocolate chip cookies and then mopped the entire lodge, lodge bathrooms, and my kitchen. I think the smell of the cookies must have floated around the resort. Because I had to turn away at least a handful of customers while the floor was drying. It was a little humid so it took over an hour for the floor to dry. By then the smell of the cookies had dissipated. I think its funny. I love to give cookies to people, so when the floor was done I was a little disappointed that no one asked about a cookie. So I started handing them out myself.

John and I watched the women's soccer match for awhile. Then we relaxed with the kids, our niece and nephew, and sat around talking and laughing. John eventually took a big group out on the pontoon for a sunset cruise. The sunset was beautiful with dark purple and pink stripes in the sky.

There was a campfire and John and Orla sat at it for awhile talking with customers. I was in the lodge with a couple customers while Jaeden played foosball. It was a good day and a good year.

Its hard to believe that a year ago we had a trouble bear here and it was captured on the eve of the beginning of my blog. So it seems strange to end the blog with nothing exciting going on. We are very happy there are no bears, and even the raccoons have left the premises. Oh well. I guess I have to end on a boring blog entry.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you enjoyed it. Maybe I will think of something else to write about. But for now, do something fun every day. Life is short. - - Cheri Stratte, Mercer, Wisconsin, Pine Forest Lodge.

362-364 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Sunday, July 10-Tuesday, July 12, 2011

There's only one day left of my blog. I will miss it.

The picture is of my daughter, Danielle, who is pregnant. We were at her baby shower on July 3. The cradle sitting on the table is the same one that she was in as a baby, as well as her brother. It was made by Melvin Jacobi, our neighbor growing up. He was like a grandpa to us kids.

Sunday is usually a day of rest for me. I went to church, bought a few groceries, and then came back with the Milwaukee Journal. I took the paper down to the beach and several customers read it as well as John. I then made sandwiches and took those down to the beach for John, me, our niece Jaeden and nephew Tommy. They were swimming with a bunch of other kids. The water was really warm.

Several people took out their boats as they were leaving to go home after the 4th of July vacation.

We had a bunch of people in the lodge in the evening visiting with us and talking. We recently had a group of 3 baby raccoons at the resort and that night the mommy raccoon finally came back and got them.

Monday was another day spent at the beach. At 6 pm we had our pot luck. Some groups didn't bring enough food for their teenage daughters and guests. So all the food was gone pretty quickly. I made a big veggie/Italian sausage/pesto dish as well as a salad. Even though there wasn't enough food, it was still fun and everyone stayed awhile to watch the homerun derby, as the pot luck is a private party. It was pretty late by the time we all went to bed.

Tuesday it was cooler than usual. I could finally bake the blueberry pie I've been wanting to bake. So I did that, and then Jaeden and I went into the girl cave. I call my sewing area in the basement the girl cave. We sewed for a couple hours and when we were done, Jaeden had finished her first quilt top. She didn't like the tedium so I don't think she will continue this interest anytime soon. When I was 9, like her, I wanted to sew badly. My mom and aunt bought me a very old Singer for my 9th birthday. I sewed on that until I was in my 20's. I love to sew.

Jaeden didn't like sewing because she doesn't like to be bored. We did a 9 patch quilt. There are 5 squares that have 9 patches and then 4 squares of matching fabric. When she got to the last 9 patch square, she gave up. So I sewed on the borders. Oh well.

Later in the afternoon a customer's son caught a large musky that was in our bay. It jumped out of the water and they filmed it on video. The musky broke the line and got away. I can't wait to see the video.

I got out some boards, cut them to about 8" X 8" and brought a bunch of stuff up from the girl cave and basement. Each kid who participated got a printed gothic font letter of their first initial. I cut out the letter, which was about 4 inches in height, and pasted it on their board with a glue stick. They then pasted stuff all over the board. They had my old tackle box so they used old tackle. They had my old buttons so they used those. They had my scrap fabric box so they used some scrap and tassles and old keys, etc. They can take them home and hang them up now.

Tuesday night some more people came into the lodge. John and I were watching the All Star game but then we had to visit with customers. It was very fun as they stayed late in the day.

It was a good day.

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July 9, 2011 The picture is of 3 little raccoons who have been frequenting the resort lately. Our puppy just watches them walk by. She perks up her ears a little but doesn't bother with them. Orla is such a good girl.

I got up really early this Saturday morning. My niece wants to help me with all the work and before she gets up, I was hoping to get a bunch of stuff done. So I quickly went downstairs and made some bags of laundry, stripped two cabins, and then delivered the bags. When Jaeden woke up, we were ahead of the game so we could take our time.

We went to the other cabins and started taking the dirty laundry out. We brought the dirty laundry to the basement. We had to put all the clean laundry away and then we stuffed the dirty laundry in that bin for pick up. She was very helpful and we got so much done that we could have some fun.

Jaeden wants to learn to sew. So we spent about an hour sewing while the cleaning girls were working on the cabins.

John and our nephew, Tommy, mowed the lawns, emptied the grills, cleaned out the boats, moved brush from fallen trees, and much more. I had extra cleaning girls so when two had to leave at noon and 1pm, that was all right. It all worked out great. That is until people started to arrive.

At 3:30 pm I noticed a customer unpacking into the Cedar cabin. They weren't scheduled for that cabin until the following week. So I went up there and asked the dad to come down to the lodge because, "I don't show that you are in this cabin." He was rightfully worried and came down to the lodge to find that even our confirmation showed the following week (thankfully not our fault).

So we had to scramble for over an hour to try to find a place for him and his family. We eventually worked out a deal for him with a dear friend who has a rental on the lake. So hopefully we will fill our empty cabin next week otherwise he will have to pay us some of our lost income. The customer was really worried because he couldn't afford to pay for a cabin of the same price this week and then pay for our loss next week.

Our friends, the Schroeders, arrived from Arizona, Milwaukee and Cedarburg. We were looking forward to seeing them and we will have a great week.

At the end of the day everything seemed to work out okay and it was a good day after all.

357 - 360 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

July 5-8, 2011

The picture is of a tree that fell on Friday, July 1 on our lines and part of it hit our Lincoln too, of course. The power surge of it hitting these particular power lines fried one of the electric hot water heaters at the resort.

July 5th, the day after the 4th, is always a little of a downer for me. Here I've decorated the entire lodge with 4th of July stuff, wore red/white/blue for days, and now its over. I will just leave the decorations up for awhile anyway. Laundry picked up today. I almost forgot to call and when they were able to make it, I did a huge sigh of relief.

John and Dave worked on the hot water heater again. The customers weren't too happy. I sewed the lady a custom, quilted apron in her kitchen's colors and gave it to her. It was hard to tell if she liked it or not at first because she was a little upset about the lack of hot water. But it wasn't there (on the following Saturday) when they left so I think she liked it.

We were invited to a cabin for their famous Korean ribs. They were fabulous. John had just gotten back from a kayak outing with customers. I had to pick up one kayak on Oxbow Lake but the rest of them kayaked back to the resort.

Later John took a big group out on the pontoon for a sunset cruise. They loved it.

I sat on the beach with customers most of the day. It was supposed to rain but all we got were a few sprinkles in between some clouds. John went around to all the garbage containers and made a garbage run. The garbage truck will be coming soon.

Wednesday, July 6, John and I both hung out at the beach with customers most of the day. Some customers went to town to the Wampum shop, which is a tradition. The shop has a lot of fun stuff for kids. Later a small girl was walking around the entire resort terrorizing us all with her wooden recorder whistle.

Thursday evening a bunch of people decided to bring appetizers into the lodge. They had to leave on Friday so they wanted one last hoorah. One of the customers brought in his huge Imac to show us his pictures of his latest trip. They were amazing. He has a great camera and his hobby is photography. We saw awesome pictures of Peru, Thailand and South Africa. We ate food, visited with people and had a great time.

Friday morning two cabins left early. They left us some good food and ice cream too. One of the cabins left in the morning, one in the afternoon. While I was saying good-bye to them, a couple of baby raccoons walked by. They are so cute and I will post their picture tomorrow. After the customers left I went into their cabins and turned off the refrigerators and stripped the dirty laundry from the cabin. I will get a head start doing this.

Friday night our niece and nephew came with their mom and dad/my brother. The kids will stay for a week. They come on Friday evening just so they can help us work tomorrow. They also love it here at the resort. There is always something going on and always people to visit or play with. We love it when they visit too so we can spend a lot more quality time with them. Family is important.

It has almost been a year since I started my blog. I love to do this! I will miss it.

350-356 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

June 29-July 4, 2011
The picture is of a tree that landed on a cabin on July 1. We will get to that in a minute.

June 29 started out bad when we heard that the Balsam cabin's septic was backed up. John went up there with the metal snake and fed it through the pipe starting at the septic. It came up through the ground half way between the cabin and the septic. That meant that the pipe was broken at that point. So John spent the entire day shoveling out the pipe, cutting roots, replacing pipe, shoveling it back in, etc. It was not a good day for him. Dave helped later in the day and they got it all done.

Friday, June 29 was a good day. John and I spent the day talking and socializing with the customers. It was 92 degrees that day and so we spent it on the beach. Orla and I spent the hottest part of the day in the basement where it was cool. She had just got spayed and couldn't swim.

Around 10 pm a huge wind came up. Customers said they saw a black cloud sticking down like a funnel and that the clouds around it were going in a circle. So they yelled to each other to "Get in the cabins! Get in the cabins!" One of the 20 something girls didn't listen and she was getting laundry off the line when a part of a dead tree fell off and hit her on her back, or neck and shoulder area. She said she heard a crack and then she was on the ground. Later she was taken to the hospital and found that there was no concussion or broken bones but she was very sore. In my opinion she was very lucky that the tree didn't hit her on the head.

We try very hard around here to get rid of dead trees. That particular tree was on the edge of the property on the edge of the woods by the clothes line. So we had missed it.

Another crunch later and we had a customer come down to the lodge to tell us that a tree had landed on the Maple cabin. She was packing up to go to her parent's cabin on the hill, Balsam, with the kids because they weren't sure if Maple was safe. The cabin on the hill was the one that had just had a septic problem. Geesh. So John and I went to Maple to check out the damage. There was a small hole in the closet in the bedroom and the tree was resting on the roof and main power lines. We had just fixed up that cabin and had built a sturdy closet in that corner. If it weren't for that closet, the tree would have probably gone through the wall. There had been a little 5 year old girl sleeping in the at bed and she had slept right through it.

John called the power company and they said they couldn't get out to us until the next morning, and our local power company couldn't come out until next week.

On our walk up the hill to see the cabin, we noticed another tree had fallen right next to the Lincoln. It was hanging on the light lines and power lines to our lodge, Cedar and Alder cabins and had created a power surge. It would turn out later that the Cedar cabin's hot water heater had a fried wire. We and Alder have gas hot water heaters so we weren't affected.

Another customer then came into the lodge to tell us his windshield had been broken by a falling tree branch. We hoped that this would be the end of this trouble. But for the next hour we tried to find a windshield repair service to no avail. We would have to try in the morning. Because it was the 4th of July weekend, everybody said they couldn't get to them until Tuesday. They had to drive to Indiana.

I called the customers who were going to arrive into the Maple cabin and told them we needed 24 hours before they could check in. They said they had other relatives up that week and would just sleep in their cabins on the floor if they had to.

The next morning, July 2, we got up early to the sound of the power company's truck. I called Dave, the only guy we could get out here, to cut with the chainsaw and help us with the electrical. He was here in 15 minutes and he and John worked with the power company for quite awhile. Power was only out for an hour.

The cleaning girls arrived at 9 am and it was hard to get them to get started cleaning. They were all dramatized, yeah I spelled that right. They couldn't believe all the trees down, the people milling about watching the power truck, etc. and the drama of the situation immobilized them for awhile. They finally got going and when the power came back on an hour later, they were able to finish vacuuming the cabin they had finished first.

The fact that we were out of power for only an hour is almost a miracle. The huge tree was lying on the wires and they were stretched pretty tight.

All day we struggled to get everything ready for the coming group. I was down to 2 cleaning girls at 1 pm. Since it was 4th of July weekend, that created a lot of trouble. So I had to help the cleaning girls finish the last 3 cabins. In the process I lost our cordless phone and still can't find it 7 days later.

The customers arrived and all was fine for a Saturday of the 4th of July weekend. Dave finished patching up the roof on Maple so it wouldn't rain inside the cabin. He cut up the tree and other tree by the Lincoln. Then Dave hauled the branches away. John worked on putting caution tape up and making barricades around the fallen tree behind Maple. He then emptied the grills and got the boats ready for customers.

Sunday was the day of my daughter's baby shower. So I left at 9:30 am and didn't get back until dinner time. I got a call from John at 4:50 pm to tell me that a hot water heater in Cedar wasn't working. So I rushed to the Ace Hardware and bought their last electric hot water heater that was a smaller size. I had wanted to go to Walmart to shop on my way home. But John sounded very stressed so I just came home. The customers in the Cedar cabin could use their daughter's cabin to shower so they said they didn't mind for now.

Dave and John tried to get the old hot water working all day. Finally in the evening they got it to limp along for now. Hopefully on Saturday we will change it over to the new one I bought. There are wires that had to be re-wired and connected, etc. so it was a big deal and we don't want to leave it that way for very long.

Monday, July 4 was a fun day. People went to see the parade at 11 am and we stayed home. They said there was so much candy thrown that the kids had grocery bags full at the end of the day. Yikes! Later at 6 pm was our pot luck and that went well. In the evening I loaded up some chairs and took the Landcruiser and customers to the fireworks. They were very good. They had one big rocket go off right at the base of the lighting area and they had to put out a fire. So some of the fireworks were a little delayed but it was still a good show.

Some of our customers made really cool 4th of July hats and were encouraging us to remember what 4th of July is - a celebration. So as I watched the fireworks, I was thankful that I didn't have to worry about losing our independence and that our armed forces were strong. My son is a Marine. He's out of the forces for now but I have learned to appreciate the sacrifice of our men and women who have served. I hope I never forget that.

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

Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The picture is of bite marks on our dumpster. A bear tried to get in to get the garbage but we had a big sheet of steel on top that was chained on. So he showed us he was there but only a little garbage was able to be reached. Minor inconvenience. Those of you who have been with me since the beginning know what my first blog was about. For those of you who didn't read that first entry, it was of the live capture of a nuisance bear here at the resort. They love our dumpster full of trash. But we don't love them.

John has been working hard to keep the bears out of the dumpsters, sometimes even standing in the dumpster on a piece of plywood to compact the trash. He did that on Saturday. The dumpsters are picked up every Wednesday morning.

Today was the day Orla had to go and get spayed. We dropped her off at 7:30 am and since they had to wait for a blood test they just took from her, we waited with her. After awhile John left to do two errands. They took Orla in almost right after he left. I wish he would have waited. He was trying to save time but it ended up costing us over a half hour as I waited for him to drive back from Ironwood to pick me up and then we went out to breakfast.

Our relatives were watching the resort for us. Just as we finished ordering our breakfast (9 am) our phone rang. We immediately thought it was the vet with bad news and our hearts jumped into our throats. But it turned out that one of the cabins had a septic tank problem. The waste was coming up into their tub when they plunged the toilet. So there was a back up somewhere. We finished our breakfast and hurried back home. I rinsed the tub, cleaned the bathroom completely with a disinfectant spray, rinsed the tub again and then wiped it again. The rest was up to John.

The customers also had another cabin in their group so they could use their shower/bathroom for the time being. John worked from 11 am until 4 pm when he took a break for lunch. At that time our relatives decided to leave.

I hadn't been able to sleep very well on the little daybed we had. So I layed down next to Orla, who was recovering from her operation, and tried to close my eyes for a little while. Our customers were supposed to be transported to a drop off site for a kayak outing at 2:30 but I couldn't find them anywhere. I was a little upset that John had scheduled a kayak outing for the day that Orla's operation was to take place. But then I sure shouldn't have let the operation be scheduled for the week when our relatives were here either. So they didn't want to hang around another minute waiting for us to visit with them. They also had other plans in Minneapolis for the next day, and then they decided to leave. So at 5 pm they all packed up and drove off. We were sad but understood.

Orla couldn't keep food down and was vomiting. For over 3 hours I tried to get her to eat anything, crackers, sandwich meat, cereal, potato chips, to no avail. Finally she ate a slice of American cheese and could keep her pain meds down. She was able to finally sleep in comfort. She even had a slight smile it seemed.

Our customers didn't need to be dropped off for the kayak outing so that worked out well this afternoon. With the plumbing problem and Orla's operation, it was a very hectic day.

Around 5:30 pm Dave arrived from his day job and helped John finish the septic problem. They had to dig out the pipe from the cabin to the septic. It had a huge tree root through the pipe and it had even broken the old, clay pipe. John had been working up there all day trying to dig out the roots, rocks and dirt. He was dirty from head to toe and took a shower at 8:30 pm and went right to bed.

Since Orla was finally sleeping I took all the towels, sheets and such from the company we had and threw them in the laundry. Then I put new sheets on, etc. Afterwards I talked with some customers. One customer/friend, Sue, decided to take a kayak and go out on the lake in the evening light. The lake had been wavy all day with the wind but now was like glass with the fading light. It was very inviting. I was a little jealous but let her go out alone to enjoy her outing. The ripples from the kayak paddles waved across the quiet lake as the loons called out. What a beautiful sight our lake is.

344 - 348 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

June 23-27, 2011
The picture is of Dave, our caretaker, with our dog, Orla. She just loves him and he loves her too.

Thursday, June 24, I got ready for John's mom, sister/husband Kathy & Jim, and Jim's mom, Lorraine to visit. I started by getting sheets and making the guest bed, putting stuff away in the office (extra sleeping) and cleaning the bathroom. I also visited with customers, sewed a little in my sewing room, and worked a little in the office. Later I worked in the basement for quite awhile getting ready for the laundry to come tomorrow.

Friday John's mom and sister arrived in the late afternoon. Denny, John's mom, had really missed Orla, our puppy, and boy did that puppy miss her. When Denny came into the house, Orla went crazy happy. Before they arrived I had spent hours working in the basement making bags up for Saturday and putting sheets away. Later I made a nice dinner of grilled hamburgers and we all visited most of the evening. In preparation of their arrival, I had vacuumed the entire house, cleaned the kitchen, put a thousand papers away off the dining table and got our bedroom ready for Denny and Lorraine.

Our bedroom is roomy and more comfortable than the office room. The office has a day bed that is probably as old as I am and are very low to the floor. John and I decided that it would not be safe to have Denny and Jim's mom, who are both in their 80's, sleep in the office. So we packed up and moved into there. So we set up Denny in our room and Kathy/Jim in our guest room. We thought that worked out well.

Later in the evening some customers came into the lodge for a glass of wine and we visited, which was fun.

Saturday was very hectic as we had to get the cabins ready for customers to arrive and saw some depart. I had worked very hard Thursday and Friday to get everything done ahead of time so I could visit with relatives as much as possible. So I made the 9 bags of clean laundry and had them ready in the basement. Saturday I stripped the old laundry from the cabins, dropped off the new one, made the cleaning girls their lunch, and then I was finished. So I visited with Denny and Kathy that evening. It was a good day and customers arrived safely.

We are a full resort this week, which is always great. This group has 5 cabins and is having a family reunion. They represent 6 different states. They also have a lot of children and that is fun. One of their relatives has a place on our lake so that is why they chose us. The relative on the lake, Linda, came with welcome baskets and put them on the tables to welcome her relatives. I had originally put here that she was a brown nose, jokingly, but it was taken seriously and she was hurt by my comment. So I am sorry for that comment. I meant it as a cute statement and was supposed to be funny but I guess that sometimes I make mistakes and doing a blog has that risk. They were a very fun group and we really enjoyed everyone.

I made a stir fry for dinner and Denny provided wonderful, bi-color, sweet corn. She and Kathy had made a trip up to Ironwood while we were busy cleaning cabins, etc. So they did a little driving and exploring. My daughter arrived Saturday afternoon for an overnight visit with her little dog in tow. We had a great visit and it was wonderful to see her little baby bump is getting a little bigger.

We had to call one of the customers because they had not arrived yet by 10 pm. It turns out that they would not be here until Sunday and I must have written it down wrong on their time of arrival. At least they were okay.

Sunday my daughter and I went to church. I had to serve communion and so I took the opportunity to stand by the entrance and introduce my daughter to everyone who I could. She was all smiles and I was very proud. After church I bought a Milwaukee Journal and we ended up sitting down at the beach most of the day reading it and relaxing in the sun.

Later in the day Kathy's husband, mother-in-law Lorraine, and son Pete arrived. Danielle left after church. So the couch was Pete and Jim was in the guest room with his wife, of course. Lorraine was in the big bed with Denny. We had a full house.

Monday I went shopping with Kathy, Jim, Pete and as it turns out, a lot of customers. We didn't plan on going to town the same time and day, but that's the way it was. We had fun seeing each other's purchases and pointing out cool finds. Kathy bought me some really neat reading glasses at Aunt Esther's Attic. They have little LED lights in them that can be switched on. Later in the afternoon, at 6 pm, was the once a week pot luck. I made a big chicken/rice dish, Denny made baked brie, Kathy brought cajun crab cakes, Lorraine contributed homemade cookies and we all pigged out. It was a HUGE pot luck and I grabbed a couple recipes.

I'm thinking of making a pot luck special cook book from the resort's favorite dishes. We'll see if I ever finish it. We had a great few days. It sure was fun to visit with John's family again as we hadn't in some time. As it is, we won't see them for awhile now. I was glad I had done so much to prepare for their visit so I could have the time to spend Sunday and Monday with them. You never know what might happen around here, like what might need to be fixed, so you have to make the most of every day. I think we did. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

341 - 343 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Monday, June 20-22, 2011
The picture is of Orla falling asleep. She has been so busy playing with everyone and everyone's dogs, that she is really tired lately.

Mondays are our pot luck days. At 6:00 p.m. I get the lodge ready for the party. I sweep, clean up the bar and set up the paper plates, plastic ware, trivets, condiments and make 2 pitchers of kool-aid. Then at 6 pm somebody rings the bell. Afterwards everyone who wants to attend is visiting, eating and having a good time. A couple of women in the group want me to make a recipe book for Pine Forest Lodge. Here's one recipe they want me to add: Marge's Taco Salad:
1 1/2 lbs. Ground Chuck, browned and seasoned w 1 1/2 pkg Taco seasoning mix
1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
3-4 tomatoes, chopped
3-4 green onions, chopped
1 can kidney beans (important: DO NOT DRAIN!)
8 oz Catalina dressing
2 cups shredded cheddar
Crumbled Doritos (as much or as little as you want)
Combine lettuce, tomatoes and green onions, toss. Add undrained kidney beans, toss. Add Catalina, then beef, toss. Add cheese and Doritos, toss. Refrigerate til you serve it. Enjoy!

My sister-in-law and nephew and niece came to pick up their labs that we had been babysitting. They are good dogs but a lot of work. I had to sweep twice a day because of their shedding and they kept jumping up on the sofa. So Judi, Tommy and Jaeden joined us for dessert and we visited awhile.

Tuesday and Wednesday John asked everyone again if there was the possibility of a kayak trip. This group is very independent and they did not need his direction. So John was a little disappointed. For years he has been taking customers on guided trips, hikes, kayaking outings, etc. and now the customers know how to do it themselves, they don't ask him to come along. Maybe next week he'll get his kayaking fix.

I went on a drive with Pam to a few fabric shops. She and I love to quilt and it is fun to have a friend who enjoys the same hobbies as you. So we sewed a lot and saw each other's projects develop over the last couple weeks. She will be leaving this Saturday and I will miss her.

It rained most of the week so far but the customers don't seem to mind. They are still going outside and down to the beach to fish or run their dogs, play and socialize. People are happiest while on vacation.

John and Dave did a lot of work around the resort. They hauled cement blocks, cut down trees, moved dirt, chopped wood, painted inside cabins (that were empty) and much more.

I cleaned 2 cabins since they were partial week bookings, did a lot of laundry, sewed on my projects, organized my sewing room for extra sleeping in the coming weeks, and did some paperwork. I also did a lot of regular household things that are much too much to mention.

Days go by so fast around here. We socialize, pet dogs, hang out, have a few drinks, visit with and talk with as many customers as we can. That makes the days go by so fast I can't believe it sometimes. Our lodge has people going in and out to use our wi-fi, buy candles we have for sale or to get a book to read. There is always something going on and we live a very charmed life by most standards.

John and I love this life and we decided that we will do this until we can't anymore physically, and when that happens, we will just hire someone to do it for us. We are staying for as long as God is willing to let us stay because we love it so much. Life is good and it was a good couple of days.

333-340 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

June 12-19, 2011
I can't believe I let an entire week of my blog go by. Time flies when you're having fun. Since I can't remember what days what happened, I'm just going to throw everything in a bunch.

Almost every day I can hear the eagles talking to each other. They have a funny peep, peep as they soar in the air, and an occasional screech. They must have a nest around here somewhere close.

The loons have 2 eggs ready to hatch on the island. We alerted the Lake Association president and he, in turn, notified everyone on the lake association to stay off the island. Too bad the lake otters, raccoons, eagles and other predators won't heed the warning too. Hopefully they'll make it.

The air turned cool this week. We had a lot of overcast days with some rain. So you know what happens then - mosquitoes. We have a bumper crop this year.

John and Dave fixed a pier, installed a heater in Balsam, put a different one in Cedar, cut down some trees for better views, installed a pole for electrical, cleaned up a huge mess a bear made out of our dumpster, went kayaking with customers, and various other regular stuff.

I had the cleaning girls come on Saturday so that meant stripping the dirty laundry out of the cabins, getting the bags of clean laundry made up and put in the cabins, and various other running around things. Pam and I made a trip to Minocqua to the new quilt shop there, and the old one, and spent some time talking about stuff. The bar was full several nights with a lot of people, which is always fun. I even got out to lunch with Bridget one day.

My brother asked if we could watch their dogs, a yellow and a black lab. We got them on Thursday and will have them until Monday evening. They are spoiled rotten and love to sleep on the sofa every chance they get. The only problem with that is they are shedding. So I have been kicking them off.

A friend came and gave me two huge containers of fabric. THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAGGIE!!! So I guess God is telling me I'm going to live awhile longer because I have a lot of work to do now. I finished my daughter's baby quilt and organized my sewing room. Dave will probably be staying in our basement for the rest of the summer and my sewing room is a little smaller now because of that. So I had to get things better organized.

The flowers are all planted now. I still had a few impatients on the deck waiting to be put in dirt. So they are all looking pretty now in pots here and there. I love flowers.

Its a good thing I did the gardening about a week ago because of the rain and the mosquitoes, I would be bit up. When John had to fix a plumbing problem, he had to be outside and he said the skeeters were so bad he had to apply the bug repellent twice.

So for the first time all summer this year, we are entirely booked. Some customers will leave on Monday (got here Thur.) and some will leave Wed. but we are booked for now and loving it. I woke up on Saturday and said to John, "Happy first full Saturday!" Finally we can get back to paying everything in full rather than making small payments. Finally we can make deposits instead of cashing in stock. Finally it is summer. Yippee!!!

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Friday, June 10 & Saturday, June 11, 2011
The picture is of our lake view early in the morning. When the water is warmer than the air, like in this picture, the steam comes off the lake. Sometimes I can't help myself and I have to take a picture.

Friday morning we had toast, eggs and bacon for breakfast. When I say "we", I mean all of John's friends who arrived the day previous. I had been making meals for a week straight now and I mentioned that maybe we could go out for lunch. They all agreed and later we went out to the Pines. It was fun to get out and not have to cook.

The heater in the Cedar cabin doesn't work so we had to order a new one. Dave checked it out and said that we shouldn't even turn it on. Then he checked the Balsam cabin and said that even after he had gone through everything on it that it kept turning off. So we ordered another one for that cabin too. With Dave here to install them, it will be easier for us. Dave's specialty is heating and air conditioning. The units we ordered will fit better into a room and you can even put a chair or something against them. They are 14 inches wide and reach to the ceiling with a aluminum box around the heating unit. Anyway, they are safer too.

After a day of talking, hanging out and some fishing, the group decided to go out to dinner too. So we went to the Cranberry Inn, which had been completely renovated recently. They were so busy it took us over a half hour to be seated but we didn't mind. I especially didn't mind since I didn't have to cook another meal.

On Saturday morning John and I got up fairly early. I went to the Lupine Fest with a customer/friend, Pam. When we were getting ready to leave, we got 3 more people to come with us. I bought a pineapple/guava jam and Kurt bought a big planter for his deck. It was fun to look around at the craft stands. Even though the wind and weather was cold, there were a lot of people there too.

After we dropped off the 3 extra people, Pam and I went back into town to the grocery store in her little Smart Car. I kept asking her if we would be able to fit all the groceries in and she said it would be fine. I had 7 bags and she had 3 and they all fit. Phew! Its so fun riding in her car too. Everyone cranes their neck to see the car.

I got the 3 cabins ready for the customers who would be arriving on Saturday afternoon. I had to turn on the refrigerator, stove, heat and hot water. After I did that I mowed the lawn of Ironwood cabin and started on ours. When I had done a section, and needed a glass of water, I walked up the deck stairs to find my sister and her husband had stopped by to visit. We hung out on the deck for awhile and talked.

Later I took her down into my girl cave - the sewing room - and showed her the baby quilt I was making for my daughter who is pregnant. My sister spotted a project I had laying there that I had completed this last winter. She said she loved it so I gave it to her. She had tears in her eyes. I was really glad to give her something I had done.

Dave rented a generator from Mercer Rentals and welded the main dock where the welds had come apart. That took him awhile but now we can use it safely. There's always something around here that needs repairing.

Before the evening set in, it got warmer. So I painted a section of the fish cleaning house so that Phil, who had just arrived, could use it when he catches fish. I was brown paint all over my arms and hands when customers arrived. I air hugged them and we laughed.

Later in the evening the bar was full with kids and adults all hanging out and having fun. Most of the group went down to the campfire later and I went to bed. Before I did that though I washed a huge pile of dishes from the supper. I can't sleep with dirty dishes on the counter. It was a good day.

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June 9, 2011

I sold something on ebay for the first time ever. The picture is of the book we sold. Only I didn't do it right. I didn't know you could put a reserve, or didn't understand how, and I had to sell it to the minimum bid amount. You live and you learn.

John took a group up to a waterfall, the Black River Falls. He also took Orla and it was her first big trip with a group. She's such a good puppy and John said she did great. The falls has one wheelchair accessible section that Gina could see the falls at so that was good for her too. They were gone most of the afternoon.

When the group was gone, I got a lot done. Things were starting to pile up around here and I had been in demand to our customers so much that I was feeling overwhelmed. So I finished a lot of work and felt much better later. I planted the 2 window boxes on our lodge/house, planted the Maple cabin window box, weeded 3 gardens, planted 3 gardens, put mulch on them, planted the few dahlias I had left, cleaned up the house, the bathroom, made the guest room bed, did some laundry, some paperwork, and then finally took a little nap. Shortly afterwards the group came back and we were busy until very late. Some friends arrived just before 11 pm and they stayed in our guest room. Tommy, our friend who plays wheelchair basketball in Barcelona, left early this morning.

John stayed up until 1:30 am and I hit the sack around 11:30 pm. We all went outside off and on to see if the northern lights were out. Since they weren't at 11:30 yet, we all called it a night. The sky had clouded over.

This weekend the cabins were pretty empty so John invited a lot of his old friends to come up. So they are here until Sunday. Kurt and his son, Scott, Rick/Pam, Ed/Debbie all came up. Rick and Pam gave us their old, flat screen monitor. Wow! What a difference that makes. We were using an old beast of a monitor that was so small of a screen that you had to scroll left or right to see the entire window. So now we are styling.

Last night we had a buffet of food set out and we all porked out pretty good. It was a good day.

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Monday, June 6-8, 2011
The picture is of John on the Action Trackchair that was on loan to us for our ATV rally this last weekend. He really liked it but doesn't quite need one yet.

I tried so hard the last 3 days to get projects finished. I started on the cleaning and preparation to paint the fish cleaning house. Then customers needed me for various things and it still sits there waiting. I have the white primer on the dark brown door, etc. so it stands out.

It was very hot here the last few days. It got up to 90 for 2 days in a row. That is very rare for us in the northwoods.

We had a friend drop in on Tuesday, Tommy Schroeder. He plays wheelchair basketball in Barcelona, Spain. Since he is back in the midwest, he wanted to stop by. So he came for two nights.

I was working hard to make sure everyone had meals on time and no one went hungry. Then I went on a trip with a customer. Then I did my own thing, sewing for a few hours, and afterwards everything hit the fan.

John was panicking that the Birch cabin wasn't finished. The screen door was missing/fell apart. The cultured stone isn't finished, and more. So I started a screen door from scratch. I hand sawed 2 X 2 boards into a frame, used "L" brackets to hold it together, painted it and got the screen ready to put on as soon as the paint would dry. Then John found out that we could just transfer the customers to another cabin and Dave could finish the projects. So all that work was in vain. I am really upset about all those hours wasted.

I went to the floral gardens and bought $50 worth of flowers. I wanted to plant them right away but customers needed me all day off and on and with making meals, I didn't plant them yet. Every time I try, something comes up. So I am frustrated.

In the late evening the customers wanted me to swim or kayak with them. They ended up swimming, so I joined them. The sun was hot and the water was warm so I jumped in. That was fun. I even got our puppy to swim a little.

The customers noticed that the loons have 2 eggs in the nest on the island. So hopefully no critters like otters will get them and we will have 2 chicks again this year. We are watching and waiting from a distance of course.

I have a lot to do and sometimes I feel overwhelmed. This is one of those times. I have to clean a cabin or two before Saturday. I have to make 2012's schedule. I have to paint the fish cleaning house, plant flowers (which I notice are tipped over by something now), and much more. I guess I will take a day at a time. This job is so much better than any other job I've ever had so I shouldn't complain.

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Wednesday through Sunday, June 5, 2011

Al finally called me Wednesday night to let me know that only 13 people would be coming to our ATV rally. We had reserved the entire resort, just like the previous years. So now after we had turned so many customers away, thinking we were full, we were not. John and I don't know what to do about that because we are out a lot of money now.

Thursday I went to my son's sentencing. He is now in jail for 8 months and 2 years probation with AODA assessment, counseling for PTSD for his stint in the Marines, and other counseling. He will be working during the week days through the Huber law, which is good. Hopefully he will learn that when he drinks, bad things happen, and he shouldn't ever drink again. When I got back home, I unloaded all the groceries and then told the cleaning girl to take a break. It turns out she had been cleaning a cabin for 8 hours. John said he didn't think to see if she was okay or anything. I couldn't believe it. She had been cleaning up all the mess in that cabin from the fire extinguisher and fire we had had earlier in the week. She felt bad because the kitchen had been her responsibility and the broiler pan was the source of the fire. Anyway, the cabin is spotless now and you could never tell there was a fire of any sore.

After I left the courthouse, I went shopping for everything we needed for the rally. I was mentally stressed by so many things that I barely made it through the day. I went to bed early.

Friday the people arrived and partying started. We didn't go ATVing on Friday, but did hang out a bit and have fun. John took a group kayaking from our resort and I picked them up down stream after their 3 hour kayak trip. Then Greg Olson of WATVA came by with two neat machines. They are called the Action Trackchair. They are in the picture. You can go into the woods on them even if you have a disability because they operate by just moving a joy stick. So now people can go in the woods to hunt, etc. even if they use a wheelchair regularly. They are pretty cool.

Earlier on Friday John took the group for a small ATV ride on trails that they normally wouldn't see. Everyone loved it and enjoyed the day.

Saturday the rally changed directions on the trails they usually took. The group was inspired by the previous day's new trails and seeing something new. So they decided to ride out in Price County. They took their ATVs on trailers and drove to Park Falls. There they started on trail 111 and we met them at the covered bridge. We had picked up Subway sandwiches so we met them there with them. Our puppy, Orla, hung around with the group and walked with me in the shallow side of the river.

I took one of the rider's service dog, Mandy, home with me and Orla. Mandy's owner had been dropped off during lunch and she was riding the ATV the way back only. Mandy sat by her owner's wheelchair and didn't move a muscle. I made the wheelchair roll into the lodge and Mandy followed. She had been bothered by small flies and I felt so sad for her. I gave her a bowl of water too and she finally napped in the lodge next to her owner's wheelchair until she got back.

For the ATV rally, they supply the food and I make it all for them (except one lunch). So I started on the dinner as usual and soon enough everybody was in the lodge eating and having a good time.

Before the rally I had removed all the bar stools, rugs, extra chairs and stuff to make room. When you have a bunch of wheelchairs in a room, you need to clear the path. So now that everybody has left, I swept, cleaned up all the mess and will put the stools back in, etc.

Sunday afternoon the cleaning girls arrived, expecting to clean all the cabins. They only needed to clean two as one person is staying longer in their cabin. So we had only needed 3 cabins total. What a shame that we had turned people away.

Around 5 p.m. on Sunday my friend, and our customer, Pam, arrived. She will be up here for 3 weeks. She owns a quilt store and doesn't get much time to quilt with all the work she has. So for 3 weeks she will be doing a lot of sewing machine time. She really liked the improvements we did to Alder, of course.

I had worked very hard all weekend and even earlier preparing for this ATV rally. Even though the amount of people was down, it is still tiring because of all the meals and clean up I have to do. So I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night. It was a good weekend overall.

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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

No picture this time because I haven't had time.

I got up early today and went into Alder after breakfast to put together the refrigerator. It is a new one for that cabin, but about 5 years old, and given to us by our neighbor. To transport it to us, our neighbors took off the doors, put all the parts in a drawer and we picked it up. So now it sat there in the cabin, all in parts, waiting for me. The doors were difficult and it took me about an hour to get them on. I thought it would be easy. I should have known that nothing is easy around here.

John came into the cabin to hook up the gas to the oven/stove. He finished that while I cleaned out the refrigerator. Orla was keeping us company and she is such a fun puppy. The weather was warm and humid and we had the wonderful new windows open. A cross breeze is a wonderful thing.

Afterwards I took all the dahlias I had in pots, ready to plant, and put the pots in the back of the 1983, Toyota LandCruiser. I drove it into town and to the church where 1 guy and 4 ladies and I planted flowers. The LandCruiser has leopard spots painted on it and the doors say, "Pine Forest Lodge Safari". It's a classic resort vehicle and I like it. When my kids were younger, they hated it when we would pick them up at functions where other kids were around. They ignored us for awhile and then would get in as secretly as they could. That actually caused more people to see the vehicle because we were waiting there so long.

After I was dirty and had wind blown hair from the planting of dahlias, I went to the gas station to fill up a 5 gallon can of non-ethanol gas for our outboards, and the Safari vehicle. Wouldn't you know it that when I am looking my worst, I run into a couple I know from the area. I looked like hell but gave them a dahlia or two and explained what I had been doing. Hopefully when I see them next I'll look better.

John worked on putting in the main pier and did a section at a time. He didn't want my help. Then he worked on getting a large power pole into the dirt up at Balsam cabin. A storm last November took out the wires to the cabin. It was already shut down for the winter so we just left it. You can't dig a hole for a pole when the ground is frozen. So John and Dave just waited a little too long. Cleaning girls were coming the next day to spring clean the cabin and so far there was no power to it. You can't run a vacuum cleaner or have hot water without electric in that cabin. Late in the evening there finally was power and no one got hurt or anything. John worked hard on that project. He had to get a load of dirt into the ATV trailer, one shovel full at a time. This is no easy task for someone without the ability to stand up straight without a walking stick.

We had some customers arrive into the Alder cabin and they just loved the new floor. That is always nice when our hard labor is appreciated. John had just finished painting the window trim on the back of the cabin just before they arrived.

I made the bag for the Birch cabin, which would have to be cleaned tomorrow too. I did some laundry of my own for a change, played with the puppy for awhile and did some work on the computer. When Dave got home from his painting job, he moved some of his stuff into our guest room. I will get the rest of his stuff tomorrow.

Our annual ATV rally for people with disabilities is starting this Thursday, which will probably use all the cabins. I still haven't heard from the person who is organizing this event. I got confirmation that they were still coming, but I needed to know how many people, etc. So I e-mailed him again. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon.

We had a customer call and with tears in her voice, to tell us they wouldn't be coming up this summer. Her husband had a stroke the year previous. This last week he fell and hurt his knee really bad. So they just can't make it. They had been coming up for over 10 years with their kids, etc. She was really sad she couldn't come up and I think the fact that her husband is still doing badly, probably had something to do with that. Hopefully his rehab will get him in better condition so they can come up next year.

I e-mailed and called and left messages with people who would be here that week of the cancellation. Hopefully we will fill it so we won't be out all that money. We only ask for $200 deposit from people. If someone cancels last minute, we are out hundreds.

Later I made a good dinner for John, Dave and I. I took leftover roast, red peppers, zucchini, 2 cheese brats, sausage and onion, fried them. I boiled ravioli filled with pesto & walnuts which I bought in the frozen food section. Then I made homemade alfredo sauce. First I would dish out the veggie/meat on the plate, then the ravioli and then a scoop of the alfredo. It was fabulous. I was pretty tired after the day so I had a glass of wine.

We visited with our customers in the lodge for about 2 hours and then it was good night. It was a good day.

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I started off the dreary, rainy morning with stripping the Hemlock and Maple cabins. I took out the dirty laundry, dropped that in the basement, then made the bag of clean laundry for each and dropped those in the cabins. The bags will sit there until the cleaning girls come on Wednesday.

When I was in the house making lunch, around 2 p.m., a customer came into the lodge and said, "We have an emergency in our cabin. The oven was on fire." He explained that something in the oven's broiler pan was on fire and the flames were so big that they had to use the fire extinguisher. I went over there quickly to see the entire cabin in a cloud of smoke, ash and powder. We opened windows, turned on the fan, and I checked out the stove. It was too hot to touch, so I used a towel and opened the broiler pan. There was something there that was about a foot long, inch thick and 6 inches wide that had burnt severely. Maybe a cleaning rag? I carried it out and put it on the sink. It wasn't smoking anymore and the oven was a real mess.

The customers said that they had not used the broiler pan at all. So that meant that I had missed something in the broiler pan after the cleaning girls had cleaned the cabin. Sometimes they forget to clean something, but it is up to me to inspect the cabin and make sure everything is clean. So ultimately it is my fault that something was left in the broiler and we didn't notice it.

So when the customers turned on the oven to cook a pizza, the heat of the gas flames ignited whatever was in the broiler. When they used the extinguisher, they pretty much emptied it out. So I had at least a half inch of white powder everywhere, some places an inch thick, to clean up.

There was powder on and in some of the cabinets, drawers, floor, counter, table, everything on the first floor and up in the loft. I spent 3.5 hours cleaning it up, pulling out the oven to clean behind, under, around, new comforters for the beds in the loft, dusting, washing the floor, etc.

When I was just finishing up, and my arms were black with soot up to my elbows, we had some friends stop by. So she helped me load the cleaning supplies onto the ATV that John was driving, and we went into the lodge for some relaxation. I got the soot off my arms pretty easily and then sat down to chat for awhile.

John had been digging a hole by the Balsam cabin to install a new power pole. The old pole had been taken out by a tree falling in a storm. John had stopped to see if he could help with anything. I told him no and that maybe he could give the customers a beer or drink or something on us. He left to do just that.

Dave showed up later with the vacuum cleaner for me. I hadn't had it earlier because the power was out because of the electrical storm. So not only was I cleaning up the mess, I had to do so in the dim light. When the power came back on, Dave dropped off the vacuum. That made the job a lot easier. I had been using a wet rag and rinsing off the powder over and over. Now I could just vacuum it up. Yeah!

After I was done I tested the oven. It worked fine. In fact when the customers came back from town, they made a pizza. Thankfully the oven is okay. One of the customers complained quite a bit about the dust on the comforters so I replaced them. Then he made a snide remark about how we couldn't have dogs in this cabin but we could have bonfires in the stove or something like that. That wasn't funny.

It wasn't a good day but it could have been much, much worse.

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Saturday, Sunday, May 28, 29, 2011.
We had friends stop by unexpectedly this weekend. So we had to put away our "to do" list and just relax for a couple days. While our friends were out fishing, we actually sat down by the lake, read the newspaper, and waved at the occasional boater going by. Orla played at our feet, the water fowl and eagles made noises and the fish jumped here and there. It was a great weekend.

We grilled out, went for woodland hikes, talked and played dominoes in the lodge, and just had fun visiting. It was a good couple days of vacation for us.

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Friday, May 27, 2011

The picture is of our lagoon & our fake loon at the water's edge. The leaves are out and summer has arrived, in my opinion. The loons call every day and evening, the skeeters are out, and the weather is turning warm. Its also very beautiful on the lake when the leaves are blooming - there are a lot of different tree colors.

We put on our waders and put in the pier off the point. It went in fairly easy until John dropped a wrench in the water. When he reached in, the water felt warm. Sure enough it was so warm we didn't want to take our hands out into the wind.

Later some people from the lake put in their ski boat and she told me that her kids were swimming already. You can't stop kids on Memorial weekend. I remember when my kids were little, they couldn't wait to get in the water, no matter what the temp was. Joey's lips were blue and they were shivering, but it didn't matter to them because they were having fun.

John and I worked on the sump pump of the Ironwood cabin next. We wanted it to be very quiet for our customers since it was still running every 5 minutes or so. It only runs in the spring and it is right under the master bedroom. We didn't think it was loud or anything, but wanted to make sure it didn't disturb anyone at all. So we wrapped insulation around it, put pipes outside to expel the water further from the house, etc.

While we were doing that a friend stopped by with some more items for us to sell in the lodge for her. She and her husband make really cool lamps with Lake Superior rocks all stacked up for the base. They also make rock lamps. They drilled a hole in a rock, put a wick thru and made a basin underneath for oil. Then when you fill the basin with lamp oil, light the wick and watch, the flame feels like your own little campfire. They are pretty cool looking and she said they are selling like hot cakes.

We then had an old friend of John's, Doreen, stop by with another friend of hers and we talked them into staying the night. We had a mutual friend, Amy, coming the same night and it was just classic to see Amy's face when she saw her old friend, Doreen sitting in our lodge. Amy screamed, and they hugged and it was a really fun evening. Doreen just happened to be up north, did not know Amy was coming, and that was fun. Amy came up with her new (6 months) husband, Mark. They were going to go fishing and hang out with us for the weekend. We love it when friends come up to stay with us.

So I had to go into town to get some gas for a boat rental. On the way I stopped at Liz and Matt's and they gave us some sump pump piping to use. That was really nice of them. Then I went to get the gas, and order some fish fries. I stopped at the Pines in town, ordered them (2 with potato pancakes) and then got the gas. So when I picked them up I ran into several friends from the lake. It is like homecoming weekend. A lot of people are up north getting their cabins ready for the summer, putting in piers, stopping by their favorite restaurants and seeing old summer friends. It was fun.

We ate fish fry, visited, drank some beers, and had fun. It was a good day.

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Wednesday, Thursday, May 25-26, 2011.
The days sort of run together here this time of year. For instance it is hard to remember what I did on Wednesday when it is Friday that I have to type about it. The picture is of the Ironwood's master bathroom floor. It had to be dug out and redone and Dave just finished it in time for the girls to clean it on Thursday.

Since I can't remember what day we did some of these things, I am going to just list them. We shocked a well with bleach, ran the hose the next day for awhile to clear the bleach, and the well is still strong with iron. Maybe a water softener is in order.

John cut down a bunch of small trees that were growing up and blocking the view of the lake from the Ironwood cabin. I did a bunch of laundry and organized the laundry for the Ironwood cabin to be done when the girls have spring cleaned it. Dave finished the trim pieces in the Alder cabin around the floor.

I got Maple cabin ready for customers to arrive on Thursday. I had to wash/dry two large sets of curtains, put them up and then put table cloths, garbage bags, and more in that cabin. I also had to turn on the gas at the propane tank, start the pilot light on the gas fireplace and cook stove, turn on the hot water and the heat/thermostats.

John did a bunch of paperwork and installed the Ironwood pier. John also installed the Maple pier himself. It wasn't easy. He used large posts and metal bars to leverage the pier down the hill and into position. I used to help him with this but my back went out one year, and no more of that. He should hire some 20 somethings to come and help for a few hours, but he didn't want to do that this time.

The dumpster was picked up on Wednesday so John got some more garbage from around the place and put it in the dumpster in preparation. So now its empty and ready for me to start loading stuff in that I have had waiting in the basement. We can't overload the dumpster, but now this week is my big chance.

I sewed on my future grandchild's quilt for a little while. I helped the cleaning girls get organized in Ironwood cabin, got some items for them they needed which required several trips to the basement and back, vacuumed the entire house, cleaned up the bar, made the cleaning girls lunch, made big dinners, had guests over for dinner on Thursday evening, shook out rugs, cleaned up the kitchen, bathrooms, checked the cabins when they were done and other odds and ends. I was going to mow the lawn for the first time this spring but then I didn't find the time.

John and I normally just go about our business and then meet up for lunch and dinner. The evening is usually me doing laundry or sewing and John is usually watching sports center. We have been married 10 years now and we work at what needs to be done with the occasional reminder to each other. It seems to work well.

Some people on the lake launched their pontoons, which means a $10 bill for us, which is always nice. We have a private boat landing and charge that fee. It has been the same fee since John bought the place and we don't have any intention of raising it.

We moved a huge TV we got from John's brother into the lodge, organized the cabinets underneath it and the old one is now a book shelf. The old TV will be put in a cabin, only its not so old - its a flat screen TV I got at an auction last year. Eventually we will get a satellite dish hooked up to all the cabins. Maybe next year.

Well that's it for now. I hope I haven't bored you all to death. Have a great day.

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The picture is of a quilt square I did for my brother/wife's quilt. I need to get it done by Aug. 14.

John had an appointment in Rhinelander today and then afterwards he was going to stop at Menards for more items. We always seem to need something from Menards.

So I had the day with Orla. I took her for a walk and then went along the lake trail after we got back. She loves the lake and to play in the water. I think she needs to see another dog swim though, before she will. She just wades into the water until she starts to float a little then gets out.

Dave put the new tiles in the mortar in Ironwood. Tomorrow is the grout and then I will take a picture of how it looks for you.

John put in the Ironwood pier, shocked the well in Ironwood with bleach, and then moved some rocks around a bit. The well needed to be shocked because of the iron in the water. We did this 3 years ago and it needed to be done again. I helped a little with this but not much.

I sewed most of the day on my future grandchild's quilt. Orla slept under my feet at the sewing table. Once she hit the foot pedal and the machine started sewing. Good thing I didn't have anything under the presser foot.

I did a load of laundry, some paperwork for a customer's deposit, did some telephone calls for the musky tournament and ATV rally that we have coming up. So far no answers but I will keep trying.

The cleaning girls will be coming on Thursday at 10 a.m. When I told Dave that earlier, he jumped into action and put in the tiles. The girls will finish spring cleaning Ironwood and maybe start on Balsam. We don't have power to Balsam yet but hopefully will soon.

I moved all my houseplants back into the house, all the dahlias back into the basement. It is supposed to get real cold again tonight. Oh well.

Some people on the lake came by to launch their pontoon. We talked for a little while, while they were waiting for the repair shop to drop it off and launch it for them. I had been pulling weeds when they pulled up. Soon we will have to mow the lawn because its getting long. As I was pulling weeds, I could hear an eagle overhead peeping. Usually they make a high pitched screech but not this time. It actually sounded like a loud peep, peep, peep as it soared above me. Then a loon called over and over again out on the lake. I don't think it liked the eagle overhead.

The laundry service came today. That is the first time in 6 months. So it was a momentous occasion. Soon all the laundry for the entire resort will be clean, ironed, wrapped in plastic and delivered to my door. I love laundry services. Sometimes I tease John and say that I wouldn't have married him if I had to do all the cabin laundry.

Several times during the day I attempted to sweep and vacuum but I kept getting distracted by the puppy. She loves to chew on brooms. So I put it off until another day. I made a nice dinner and then sat down and read a book after 8 p.m. I just don't know where the day goes sometimes.

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Monday, May 23, 2011
The picture is of Birch - finally all done. I'm not sure if I posted this on my blog yet so here it is.

I had a really busy day. It was overcast and dreary outside so I felt like baking. I'm not sure why those dreary days affect me so, but I baked pumpkin spice bars. Then I looked in the freezer and got out some chicken for dinner and decided to make Jamaican Jerk chicken. Its my son's favorite so I posted on Facebook that I was going to make it for dinner just to see what he would say. He ignored me - the usual.

I knew I had to go grocery shopping when I ran out of sugar. What kind of baker or cook am I if I didn't have a spare bag of sugar around? I was ashamed of myself. But before I could shop at the grocery store, a chore I like, I had other things to do.

The laundry was still in the Ironwood cabin and in order for the girls to get all the spring cleaning in there finished, it had to be done too. So I drove the Chrysler over to the cabin and spent about a half hour getting everything that could be washed into the car. Then I went in the house, told John where I was headed, grabbed my grocery list, and headed out.

The first stop was the grocery store for laundry detergent so I bought a magazine too. Then to the laundromat, where I proceeded to load up 6 commercial washers. $25 later I had all the laundry done, dried, folded, in my laundry bags and back in the car. It had taken me about 1.5 hours which wasn't as bad as the last time I was there. For the most part I had the laundromat all to myself. That was nice. I didn't have to say excuse me when I belched, etc. which is always nice. I don't get to have a lot of time to myself these days so hadn't realized how nice that was.

When I got done with the laundry, I drove to the grocery store and shopped for about an hour. $135 later I was finished and back home. It was an expensive day.

John has to drive to Rhinelander tomorrow so he took all the laundry out of the car for me and put it in the basement. He took Orla for a long walk over to Mary Russell's former property to check on the coach house for her nephew, Bobby. There were a lot of trees and branches down since last fall when he was there last. So John called Bobby and told him to bring a chainsaw. Bobby wasn't too happy to hear that but thanked John for his help.

John did a lot of bills and this time of year that is not easy. We don't have a lot of money coming in and there is a lot going out to clean the cabins, get projects finished, etc. Anyway that stressed him out a little and I could understand that.

The loons kept calling all morning and evening. This time of year they are very vocal and we love it. The leaves on the trees are so pretty this time of year too. I took a small walk outside and was surprised that the mosquitoes weren't that bad also. The bats are probably feasting on them every evening, which is good.

Its supposed to get cold the next few nights but tonight maybe low of 40. So I will leave my dahlias out tonight but will probably put them in the basement tomorrow.

Dave got the bad tiles out of the bathroom floor in Ironwood today. He had to make a huge mess of dust to do so. So it is a good thing the cleaning girls didn't finish the cabin yet. They will be back on Thursday.

Its been such a rainy, cold spring that we haven't had time to do painting outside like we usually do. I will be cleaning off and priming the fish cleaning house soon. That is the next project. So hopefully it will warm up soon.

Have a great and fun Memorial weekend! We have 6 openings still. That is a little sad, since we usually have only a few openings. But we'll take what we can get. Everything will be fine, I'm sure. I talked to a customer who wants to change her week this summer. Hopefully she will take a week early or late in the season that is harder to fill. We'll see. It was a good day.

313 of 365 of What it is LIke to Run a Resort

Sunday, May 22, 2011

We went to my nephew's confirmation party in the morning. The customers left just before us so I was supposed to turn off the hot water and refrigerator but I forgot. So we were on the road when I remembered. Oh well, we'll get it when we get home.

After the family get together, we went to Menards. I had picked out some tiles for the repairs in Ironwood cabin but I didn't get enough. So we headed back. We found some really nice ones at Home Depot (stopped there first) that look like actual rock, which will match the border on the wall of the shower. So we picked those. They were a little expensive, but will look really nice, hopefully.

Then I picked out some cleaning supplies including a telescoping window washer/squeegie. We needed something like that to wash the windows that needed a ladder to get to.

Then we got back home and did some laundry, checked telephone messages, e-mails etc. and then that was it for the day. The drive to Menards takes us over an hour one way, and then the time for shopping, and the drive back, took up our entire afternoon. It felt like a really long day but wasn't too bad.

The rain and tornado warnings were nothing for us up here as there was barely any wind. The leaves are all out and open and grass needs mowing now. Its early this year. It rained a lot during the night too so we will have to wait for it all to dry out before we mow. But it sure is pretty with all the trees blooming. We have a lot of cherry trees here and the blooms are just gorgeous.

I saw 3 eagles flying and squeaking to each other in flight today. That's always amazing to see. It was a good day.

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

Saturday, May 21, 2011
The picture is of Orla, our 4 month old puppy. She is getting bigger every day.

The cleaning girls are coming at 10 a.m. so we got Maple cabin ready for them. I made the bags of clean laundry in the basement and John made sure there weren't leaks in Maple's plumbing. It was a warm day so I opened up the windows in the cabin when I went to check on his progress.

Then I went to Ironwood cabin where Dave, our caretaker, has been living most of the winter. It was in very good shape for someone who had been living there for months. I got some things ready in there for the cleaning girls. Then I took the remaining items out of there that Dave left behind. The girls started cleaning there but didn't finish before they had to go for the day.

I did a lot of laundry, hanging some of it outside to dry. I took Orla for 2 walks, one early and one later. I made a lunch of pizzas, like a buffet, for the girls and us.

John and Orla went to the bank and grocery store for a few items in the morning. Then he worked around the resort on plumbing and odds and ends. Dave came into the lodge to say there was an emergency in MN at his ex-girlfriend's and he took off. We didn't have anything immediate that needed to be done anyway so that was okay. We were just worried for his sake.

I went into the basement and started sewing on my daughter's baby quilt. Orla joined me. The rain was coming down very hard and Orla had never been in the rain so naturally she was curious. So I opened the screen door and she ran out into the heavy, steady rain. She played in puddles, ran through them over and over and had a "happy fit" where she runs really fast all over the place. She came back to the door and I let her in and dried her off with a towel. She kept biting the towel while I was drying her, and was a very happy dog. She's such a cutie.

John tended bar for awhile for 3 customers (all men) and I sewed until late while Orla played around in the basement. It was a good day.

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

Friday, May 20, 2011

The mosquitoes weren't back yet in the morning, so I spent some time outside by the lake with Orla. She waded in the water while I soaked a worm. I had some success but threw them all back. The lake was like glass and the loons were calling most of the night and into the morning. I had the window open a crack all night so we could hear them.

The cleaning girls were coming at 10 a.m. so John said that Dave told him the water was all set in Birch. So I turned on the hot water heater and we were good to go. They arrived at 10:15 a.m. (most of them) and started to make my day. They cleaned up Birch, and made all the beds, etc. for customers to use it. I had noticed some things that had been missed in other cabins so they took my list and worked on them too.

After the cleaning girls left, I checked the cabin and it looked great. The picture is of Birch. We put a new bathroom in and had the floor sanded down and refinished it. I am very happy about how it turned out. A door needs to be replaced on the main entrance, but that is all that still needs to be done.

I found an oak shelf in the basement and cleaned it up. I put it in Birch to hold all the books, etc. I also put the vinyl recliner on the porch and the adirondack chair in the living room. I love to play house with the cabins. Tomorrow I will hang up some pictures and decorate a little in there.

Later I put sliding pads on the chairs, etc. in Alder. The new wood floor would be scratched up pretty quick without those. John was priming the outside trim boards that were put around the new windows. So I talked to him through the window while we worked.

John and I had started up the water in the Maple cabin in case the girls finished with Birch. He turned on the water and I checked all the valves, etc. in the cabin. It took us awhile to figure out which valve turned on the tub. It doesn't make sense how it is plumbed but we figured it out. It has been re-plumbed twice now and because of issues with the shower pipes freezing, we had to shut it down for the winter. So anyway there is only one little leak and that is the kitchen sink's spray hose. Other than that, it was ready.

We then checked on Balsam but there wasn't any power. We had a storm go through last fall which took down some trees, which in turn took down some wires. We still haven't fixed that problem because the ground was too frozen to dig holes for new posts. So when Dave gets back from his 2 day trip, he will fix them hopefully. He said he would anyway. We offered to call the local electrical contracting company but Dave said he could fix it.

The mosquitoes arrived in the evening. Our customers had been outside throwing a ball around, etc. and they got bit up. They didn't care though because they were having fun. The mosquitoes won't be so bad this year though because they didn't start before the bats came back. The bats were here before they were. So that's great.

Our customers arrived about an hour after I had got their cabin ready. So that was perfect timing. We talked with them awhile and then they went kayaking. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

I organized some things in the basement, took out all my houseplants and put them outside, cleaned up the lodge, loaded up the bar refrigerator with beer and soda and turned that on, swept, did some paperwork, some laundry, and various little jobs. It was a good day.

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

Thursday, May 19, 2011
The picture is of the Longaberger basket I am selling on ebay now along with an antique book from the civil war.

We had plans to go out to lunch with some friends of ours so I had wanted to get up early. Last night Orla had an allergic reaction to the pollen that was floating in the lake. She was itching all evening and couldn't sleep later, so I gave her some vet recommended allergy medicine. She was finally fine at about 11 p.m. and then slept for 4 hours. After those 4 hours and the medicine wore off, we sure knew it and I gave her some more. She slept for 5 hours then and the allergy attack had worn off by then so she was fine the rest of the day. I didn't get good sleep though and the next thing I knew was it was 9:40 a.m.

So my plans for the morning were hurried. I quickly put a coat of varnish on the trim pieces I had stained a couple days earlier. Then we went to lunch. Mitch and Lorrie run the Odonata shop in Mercer, a fine arts store. We have the same tourist season and busy time of the year. So going to lunch was a great time to catch up. I kept worrying about Orla in the car because it was warm. So I went to the window several times and she was fine. Lorrie gave me some brochures for the Art Tour that is in the end of July.

While we were eating lunch, Toni Sendra came into the restaurant and we asked her how her new venture was going. She and her husband are in charge of the Cranberry Inn restaurant and motel. They completely gutted the restaurant/bar and motel and redid it completely. Their grand opening is Memorial weekend but they are open for restaurant business tonight. We were excited for her. Its so rare these days in this territory for somebody to have enough capital to do something so extensive. Its nice to see the results of new building, construction and new decorating going on.

John and I talked with Dave, our caretaker, about a plan for getting the resort spring cleaned and the projects completed. We had to go to Minocqua to see my niece's spring concert that evening so we could pick up whatever we needed. After talking for awhile and working a little in Birch, we realized it was time to go. So we left for the spring concert.

When we got back around 10:45 p.m., Dave was just finishing up in the Birch cabin. He worked really hard to get everything done for the cleaning girls, which was great. The girls will be coming tomorrow at 10 a.m. so I had been worried about that.

It was a good day.

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

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The picture is of a book that John's mom sent back with him. She wants us to see if we can sell it on Ebay or something. So I put it on ebay recently. It is valued at $1500.00! Its from the Civil War. Our ebay listing has it for $1000 at the most, or "buy now".

We've been meaning to sell stuff on ebay for years. So I put a couple things on there for now, the book and a Longaberger basket. I'm not sure I've set everything up exactly the best way or the way it should be for the easiest transactions, so I will see if these 2 things sell before I add more items.

Today, Wednesday, I had plans to go to Rhinelander with my sister, mom and my daughter, Danielle. Danielle is registering at Shopko for baby gifts for her baby showers, etc. There aren't many stores in her area to get baby items and Shopko seemed to have the best variety. So we all helped her pick stuff out. Then we went to Kohl's and all they had were clothing items for babies. I bought my daughter a maternity outfit and we looked around and then all went to lunch. It was a fun day.

After all the baby shopping I took items back to Menards. A lot of the hardwood flooring was extra so we returned it. I have one partial box left over in case we need to replace a board or two some day. One of the boxes had been taped shut when we bought it. When Dave opened it, he noticed that the top board was complete but all the rest were short pieces. So someone had returned their scraps to Menards for a refund. That's stealing, people! We were able to return it as "defective" and get our money back but I wonder if they thought we were trying to pull something on them. I ran through Menards, because I had my sister with me, and picked out stuff on our list. A medicine/mirror cabinet for Birch, caulk for the cabins, electrical outlets, switch, outlet plug, box, and ceramic tile for Ironwood's bathroom. I got home and then realized I didn't buy enough tile. I am 6 squares short! I kicked myself all evening and every time I thought about it. So now I either have to go back to Menards to get more or go and get other tiles somewhere else and return these at a later date. Bummer.

John was very happy to hear the dumpster being emptied. It was the first time since the fall that we've had it emptied. Now it will be picked up every week for the summer. He loaded it up with construction debris from our improvements. Now its full again to be picked up next Wednesday. That project took John many hours since we had stored garbage all over the place in anticipation of the dumpster pick up.

So far this spring we haven't had any bears. Last year, at my first blog, we captured a nuisance bear. Go back and read about it if you want.

John hooked up the old Toyota LandCruiser to a tree stump and yanked it out. He is going to improve the area right behind the dumpsters and that tree was really in the way. We have so many trees around here and more are growing each day. We have saplings of Maples coming up everywhere. Some are right next to foundations. I have some pruning to do soon.

The weather was beautiful today and looks like the next two days are supposed to be too. The mosquitoes aren't here yet so that is wonderful. The bats have arrived though so I hope they are getting enough to eat.

It was a good day. I had a great time with my mom, sister and daughter.