Category: work

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Quite week thank goodness

Well it’s been a quiet week around here, thank goodness.  A couple of local Christmas Tree growers brought us three deer they killed because they were eating their trees.  I made jerky from some of it, had some of the other made into sausage,  and the rest were cut into roasts and ground into hamburger.  A local butcher does all of this for me and he does a great job.

When he makes the sausage and hamburger, he always adds a little beef fat to it because deer is so lean that it’s so dry if you don’t add the beef fat.  Once that’s added then the sausage cooks much better and you don’t have to add any oil to the pan when it’s cooking.  I use the deer burger for soups and chili.  I’m not crazy about just deer burger to make meatloaf but if you put half deer burger and half hamburger, then it makes pretty good meatloaf.  Surprising how many people come here because I serve wild game.  It’s the only place they can try it and know it’ll be good.

I’ve also had a blast Christmas shopping for Little Joe and Celeste.  I guess I have spoiled them  because I got Little Joe a remote controlled car, a Nintendo Wii (I hope he’s not too little for it), a Leapster and a bunch of games for it, and a bunch of other small toys like dinosaurs and even got him a frog aquarium.

Celeste, well she’s like a daughter to me.  I bought her a used car but it’s a good one.  I had my mechanic check it out to make sure it’s a sound car.  I got her a Honda because they get pretty good gas mileage and are pretty darn dependable.  It’s a Honda Civic and I can’t remember what year it is.  I have CRS (Can’t remember shit) so you’ll have to excuse me.  I also got her a Dell Laptop computer.  She graduates from High School this year and is planning on going to college.  She’ll need a laptop in college and it sure won’t hurt for her to have one now.

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Hey, wanna see my place?

I realized that all I do is talk about my Bed and Breakfast and haven’t shown you what it looks like.  Well I had to do a lot of work to get it turned into what I wanted but I loved every single minute.  I have already told you about the different rooms that I rent so there’s no need to repeat myself.

This picture was taken when we got an early snow before I got the Christmas decorations put up but I still think it’s a pretty picture of my place.  My new barn and animals are off to the right.  My garden is off to the left.  You can see the gazebo on the back of the wrap around porch.  Now you can see why there are deer, and other animals that come around the house.  Anyway, here it is.

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The house smells of Gingerbread

The house smells absolutely wonderful.  Celeste is in the kitchen making a Gingerbread house.  She has been working on it every night for about a week now.  She’s a very talented young lady.  From what I have seen so far, it’s going to be absolutely beautiful.  Little Joe ends up with more Gingerbread than the house does it seems sometimes because Celeste wants it to be perfect and if it’s not, there stands Little Joe ready to eat the imperfections.

Oh I don’t think I told you that we’re having a Gingerbread house contest this weekend.  First prize is a $100 gift card and a weekend stay here whenever you choose.  Second place is $75 and one nights stay.  Third place is a $50 gift card.  So far we have 10 contestants that I am sure of.  There are 8 other applications that haven’t come back in yet so they could still be in the contest too.  Most of the contestants are locals.  We do this every year and then leave the houses up for viewing by my customers.

Last years winner also sold theirs to a lady that paid $150 for it.  I almost fell over.  It was a big Gingerbread house and it was beautiful but everything has to be edible and I guess they could be kept for a while.  I don’t know.  Anyway, Celeste is making the barn, animals and manger scene.  So far, it’s absolutely gorgeous.  I can’t wait to see it when she’s totally finished.  No I’m not one of the judges.  There are judges that come here from other contests to judge them.  Here’s one from last year.  Isn’t it amazing?

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Here comes the snow!!

It’s already starting to get cold enough for the ski slopes to make snow and we have gotten natural snow for three days in a row now.  The natural snow hasn’t added up to many inches but the temperature is low enough that what fell has stayed.

Thanks to the snow, we are booked solid this weekend.  People love it when it snows and the mountains is where they want to be.  Once the ski slopes are all up and running, I tend to be one more busy lady.  Oh I’m not complaining at all because this summer has been a bit skimpy to say the least.  Now that gas prices are coming down, people are venturing out a little more but still not like before.

If we have a winter that is just close to usual, then the year won’t end in the red.  If not, somethings gotta give before long.  Luckily I have several hunters that donate deer to us during hunting season so that really helps with the food costs.  People look forward to my deer roast and deer stew every winter.  I just hope it’s enough to pull them back in this winter.

One good thing, I do have a couple reservations for the week of Christmas already.  I was afraid my usual Christmas patrons wouldn’t show this year but they’ll be here as they have for the past 4 years.  They’re more like family now than just people that come here to stay.   That’s what I have tried to build here, a family atmosphere and I must not have done too bad of a job.

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Throwing a Halloween bash

We’re having a Halloween bash!!  The place is all decorated in spooky stuff, have a hay ride through a spook trail, bobbing for apples, and a best costume contest to boot.  It all starts at dark and the whole community is invited.  Well most of it anyway.

I’m Scarlet O’Hara of course, Grace is a clown, Celeste is Snow White and Little Joe is one of the seven dwarfs, Happy!!  He’s always smiling so Happy fits him perfect.  All the adults have to bring a big bag of candy to help with the candy we give out to the kids that come by Trick-or-Treating and other than that, the party is free.

Hey, if you’re in the mountains of North Carolina, stop by and see us.  I promise you’ll have a blast.  Don’t forget to come in a costume!!!

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It’s been 10 days

Well it’s been 10 days since Celeste and Little Joe showed up on my porch and knocked on my door.  I can honestly say that they have been nothing but pure pleasure around here.  Celeste works her rear off when she’s scheduled to work.  She goes to school every day and studies hard when she gets home.  She is a great mother to Little Joe.  She’s just an all around good kid.

I have to admit that Little Joe has stolen my heart.  That child has brought so much joy into this house that I didn’t realize was missing until the two of them moved in.  I never got the chance to be a mother and now I have found myself mothering Celeste and Little Joe.  He calls me “NaNa April.”  My heart just melts when he says it because he says April so cute.  I never knew what I was missing until now.

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I love these animals

I grew up in the city and had absolutely no idea that I would love these animals but I do.  They have become great pets and have also brought in a lot of people just to see them.  Now that the gas is flowing again and the prices are coming down, people are starting to just come up to see the leaves turning and stopping by to see if I have any openings or just to see the animals.

Oh the animals haven’t MADE me any money yet but it does look promissing.  I figured it would take me at least a year to see any profit from them and until then, they’re more for pleasure than profit.  When they start bringing in profit, that’s all the better.  You got to keep your establishment enjoyable in order to bring in more people and the animals add a little more enjoyment factor in other ways than we already had.  Glad I thought of it……….well glad I let someone talk me into it. 😉

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Celeste

Late Friday night, there was a knock on my door.  When I opened the door, there stood a young woman with a little boy.  She said her name was Celeste and her little boys name was Joe.  She didn’t have anywhere to go because her family had thrown her out that evening and she wondered if maybe I had a job she could do to pay for a room tonight and some food for her and Joe.

This is a 17 year old young woman with a 15 month old beautiful little boy.  I invited her in and got her and Joe something to eat.  I sat with her and talked to see what I was dealing with here.  I sure didn’t need a teenager that was on drugs here but I didn’t see any signs of anything like that.  All I saw that she had a bruise across her cheek that she had tried to hide with makeup but didn’t do a very good job of it.

She said her father was bad to get drunk and take everything out on her and her mother and she just couldn’t take it anymore.  He had gotten angry about nothing and threw her out.  She said she was still in high school and had someone that kept Joe for her to be able to go to school.  She really wanted to stay around here so she could finish school and then hopefully go to college so she could take care of Joe and herself.

My heart almost broke as I listened to this beautiful young woman talk.  I made a deal with her.  I told her that she could clean the rooms and help with the other chores around there and she would have a place to live as long as she stayed in school and took care of her son herself.  No male visitors to her room and no drugs or drinking.  When I saw the tears swelling up in her eyes, I knew this was not a bad kid.  Just a kid that had made a few mistakes and was trying to do right by them.  I guess I now have somewhat of a daughter and grandson if all works out like I think it will.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

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I’m a farmer

Well I checked to make sure my insurance was good with the animals, made sure I had all the proper permits, and even got a pair of pot belly pigs, pygmy donkey’s, and a miniature horse so I guess I’m now officially a ‘farmer’.  I got the little donkey from the ‘Little Ass Farm’ up the road.  I love the name of that place.  It’s a sweet little donkey too.  Her name is Blossom.

So far, the animals have been a huge success.  I even have people stopping by just to see the animals.  Yeah, I do charge for them to pet my animals.  Hey, you gotta pay for feed for all those critters ya know.  I even got a pair of pheasants and some quail too.  Man those are some pretty birds.  I can sell the babies they hatch because I’m not eating their eggs, that’s for sure.  Maybe we could have ‘pheasant under glass’ for dinner if they raise babies.  I’m not killing them if we do.  That’s going to be someone else’s job, not mine.  I’ll just sell the babies, I’m not eating any of the animals!!

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Summer kicking up here

Boy am I glad the gas prices have kept people close.  You know what I mean?  People are taking shorter vacation trips and I have been booked solid since school got out and am still booked through labor day weekend.  I even have most weekends after school goes back booked almost solid.  I really hate that gas is so high but it has helped the local economy a great deal.  The best part is that a lot of people are finding my place that didn’t even know it was here before.  Word of mouth is the best advertising there is.