May 1, 2024
Today we need to move out of the Cottage but we need to first go get a place to move into. That is the RV that Chris owns. He has a 2017 Heartland Cyclone II HD Edition toy hauler. He is trying to sell it but he is letting us use it while ours is being repaired. We picked up the Cyclone and moved it three blocks to the Ozark Country Inn. It is a couple of feet shorter than ours but it does have the patio. Nancy loves the patio. We are discovering some things. The bed in the bedroom is “north/south”. That means that is is inline with the length of the RV. Now you have a queen bed in a space that is less than 8 feet wide. Add a small closet and you have very little room. I have to turn sideways to get dressed in the bedroom. By staying in this one it has given us a new appreciation for our RV. The living room is very large. Actually larger than ours. It has a double slide out. That is a slide within a slide. It also has a very comfortable couch/recliner. Then there’s the garage. We set the garage up as our storage and seldom used items. We are not real sure how long we will be in this one. Depending on part availability could be a month or more. And then there is the patio. But on this day, we basically piled stuff in. We actually went out and bought several totes to make it easier to transfer our stuff. By nightfall we had moved in. Very exhausting day!
April 30, 2024
I only have to cook for one this morning. Easy peasy! After clean up it was time to hook up and get the RV out of the spot. To get into the spot, I had to come through a grassy area, through a fence opening (very wide) and pull forward past 2 trees. Then I had to back up within 4 feet of the Cottage. So to get out, I am going to have to pull forward, then back through the gate, between a few trees, and then I will be able to drive around the building. To make matters worse, the rain has softened the grassy area and created a couple of mud puddles. But within 15 minutes we were on our way to Conway, Arkansas to Moix RV. Moix is a very large dealer and they were able to get us in sooner than anyone else. We arrived about an hour early and the service rep. we had was out of the office for lunch. So we sat and waited. We didn’t have to wait very long. The rep came back from lunch and showed us into his office. We completed the paperwork and then went outside and unhitched the RV.
This particular dealer is a dealer for Brinkley RVs. Brinkley is a relatively new company and they are building some interesting RVs. They are putting a lot of features into their RVs that a lot of RVers are wanting. The founders of the company are actual RVers so they build a prototype and then take it out for a week or two and use it to make it better. They are pricier than a lot of RVs but the quality of the build is very evident if you know anything about RVs. Nancy has been looking at one of their new models and we are hoping to see one today. It is the Brinkley Z3400. It is about 4 feet shorter than our current RV and it has a drop down back patio but it is not a toy hauler.
We went to the brand new Brinkley building and they did have several models for us to look at but not the Z3400. They had ordered one for a customer but in transit from Indiana it got scratched. So the customer was ordered another unit and they had this one at the body shop. We requested to be notified when it came out of the shop. They said they would.
Next door just happened to be a Harley dealer. So naturally I had to check it out. I no longer collect Harley T-shirts but I do collect poker chips. After I made my purchase, it was finally time to get something to eat. After looking online at nearby restaurants, we settled on O’Malley’s Irish Grill. The food was good and the Guinness was as well. I tried get a local brew but they were out of the one that wasn’t an IPA so what else would you drink at an Irish Pub? Then it was 1 1/2 hours to drive home.
April 29, 2024
Only had a small breakfast service so I was able to get everything done in a reasonable time. Since we will have to be out of the RV for a couple of days until we get Chris’s RV set up we closed off the Cottage for “Repairs” for 3 days. Today is day 1. It’s time to move everything we may need to live out of the RV into the Cottage. That means all of our clothes, food, freezer goods, and many. many things. Basically move out of the RV and into the Cottage. That is a lot of work but to add another twist, Mother Nature decided to throw us a thunderstorm, too. By the time we had finished, we were both very sweaty and very hungry. We took showers and ordered food through Door Dash. It’s great to have Door Dash. Tomorrow we move.
April 28, 2024
The house was going to be empty again after breakfast. They all wanted to know who won and the stories were told at breakfast. Most of the pie had been eaten and the guests enjoyed them. Some even commented that they liked my pie better than the winner. We had made an appointment to take our RV to a shop for repair on Tuesday, April 30th. That means that we will need to move a lot of things out of it for a week to a month. Nancy was busy with cleaning the Inn and getting rooms ready and laundry. So I decided that I would empty the compartments on the outside of the RV. Fortunately we have access to a small garage so we can store items in there. So I moved my outdoor cooking station into the garage. Then took all the items out of the belly so that the hydraulic pump/tank can be accessible. Then took all of items out of the basement. Then I emptied out our outdoor kitchen.
April 27, 2024
It’s Pie Contest Day. Pies have to be dropped off by 10:00 AM and the winners will be announced at 11:00 AM and you must be present to win. So after breakfast we got the tables cleared and all the dishes in the dish room. Nancy and I took the pies to the church. We were not sure how many pies to make. If you read it one way, it sounded like you needed one to judge and one to auction. Actually we only needed one. So we decided to keep one and share it with our guests. Plus I really wanted a slice of it. The smell was driving me crazy. On the way back, we stopped at the Wildflower to talk to Chris. We sat and talked for a while and left there and went back to the church. While waiting for the judging to end and awards to begin music was provided with a little sing a long. It was wonderful. At breakfast, Nancy announced to our guest about the pie contest/auction. As we were sitting in the pew, one couple from the Inn stopped by the church. I had befriended the local “Pie Lady”, Reda. She works at the Rainbow Cafe and we have eaten there a few times. Her pies are awesome, especially the Banana Split Pie. The others look awesome and the patrons of the Rainbow Cafe rave about them. The true pie lovers actually come in, order their pie with their meal. Not after. Reda entered two pies.
The church started a program to provide beds and bedding to local students that had none. Some families are so poor that they cannot afford beds for everyone in the family. The church has developed the Blessed Beds charity. The pie auction is one of their fund raisers. Church members were actually doing the auction. Before the start of festivities, one church member introduced his family visiting from Florida and Indiana. They had a family activity so all were at the pie auction. The one relative from Florida belongs to a quilting club. She rallied here club to make quilts for the children’s beds. She had two large totes full of bedding and books for Blessed Beds. Very touching moment. After that the winners of the pie contest were announced. My pie was not among them. Then the fun began. The auction. There were certain pies that a lot of people wanted. The auction process was fun to watch. A couple of pies actually sold for over $100. My pie did bring $40. Not bad. We had some money so Nancy decided to bid on a couple of pies. She bid on one but was out bid as we only had $30. Then came a pie that was very interesting. It was called an Arkansas Trash Pie. It contained pretzels, chocolate, nuts, and many other snack items. As the bidding progressed, the guests decided to chip in some money. First was $20 and once the bid reached $50, they handed over another $20. The bid was holding at $70. Nancy’s bid. Another relative of the church member told Nancy she would give her $15 if her husband could have a piece of that pie. She said that the $15 would just be given to the charity. Nancy bought a pie for $85. We found a knife and the husband tried the pie. In the meantime, the out of town family bought about 5 or 6 pies. They donated easily over $400 to the charity. Awesome family. Then they told everyone there that they would not be able to eat all of that pie so they took them to the kitchen and sliced them. Then offered up pie to anyone who would like to sample any of them. Nancy did find a couple of small pieces to try. All of them were very good. My friend Reda did win 1st place and that pie sold for $125. The Arkansas Trash pie was the Grand Prize winner.
We took the pies back to the Inn and sliced them up into small pieces and put them out for our guests to enjoy. I got my slice of apple crumb too. Was a very good day. I think I finally finished the dishes by 4:00PM. Then at 7:00PM we headed over to the Square for some great music. What a day!
April 26, 2024
Today I have to do some baking after I finish the dishes from breakfast. Tomorrow at a local church, they are having a pie contest and auction to raise funds for a project they are sponsoring. So having never done anything like this, why not. I baked two apple crumb pies. Nancy and the family all liked my pies. Pies are all baked. I’m ready for tomorrow. I must say that the storms that occur here in the Ozarks are impressive. And another impressive storm decided to pass through again tonight. This time it was a little stronger. Lots of thunder and lightning. During the storm I heard a loud bang. It was not thunder. It was a sound I had heard before as a firefighter. The sound of a transformer blowing. And then the power went out. It is just as well as we were having issues with the streaming TV. A little while later the power returned. We do not have a generator so the Inn was very dark. Then we actually had a guest text us about what to do. Our advice was to stay put and try not to move around the Inn as the stairs and darkness were not a good combination.
April 21, 2024
All of our guests departed this morning after breakfast. We did our normal routine of stripping the beds, cleaning the rooms, remaking the beds and doing dishes. Fortunately Jessica also comes and does a lot of the work, especially the cleaning. She is fabulous. Then we get a phone call from Chris. He and Krissa want to take Nancy and I out to dinner this evening as a way of thanking us for the work we have done, especially with all the festivals. We met at Wing Shack and Cheeseburger Grill at 5:00PM. We have been there once. Nancy was not impressed with the food. I did enjoy my burger. So Nancy ordered something different and I got the same burger. Nothing changed. She still didn’t like the food and mine was okay. That will probably be the last time we eat there. We did have good conversation with Chris and Krissa. She’s forcing me to remember my sign language. She does not miss an opportunity to teach you different signs also. I enjoy it.
April 20, 2024
Today is the last day of the festival. At 10:00AM there will be a parade downtown. Nancy took our chairs over to Main Street and set them up. I was in the kitchen at my usual 7:00AM. Breakfast was cooked, served, and dishes cleared in time for Nancy and I to walk to our front row seats. It was a small town parade. Some really neat trucks, cars, tractors, floats, etc. And the local high school band and local politicians. And we can’t forget some of the area fire equipment. Brought back memories. After the parade, we walked around the various booths, vendors, etc. Then it was back to the kitchen to do dishes and prep for tomorrow’s breakfast. As the weather was cooler, some of the musicians asked to use our parlor again for a jam session. We talked with them for while during their set up. Andy, one of our guests and a retired Air Force Colonel, was put in charge. We just asked that they wrap it up by 10:00PM so people could have quiet time and sleep. No problem.
April 19, 2024
Mountain View is Festival Central. This weekend is the 62nd Annual Folk Festival. This is one of the two biggest festivals of the year. Needless to say we are totally booked for this weekend. Guests have arrived and after breakfast, Nancy got the musicians who are staying with us to gather in the parlor for a jam session. Unfortunately I missed it but she took lots of video and pictures. I was in the kitchen cleaning, prepping for tomorrow’s breakfast and baking goods for our guests. I was tired. However I did make it back into the Inn for a few minutes later this evening for another jam session. We had a whole house full.
April 17, 2024
Today’s ventures will first take us to The Dulcimer Shoppe. This is another institution in Mountain View. Lyn McSpadden started making dulcimers in 1962. They still handcraft each dulcimer. In addition there are several types of dulcimers. Each will produce a different sound and is played differently. Was really neat to walk around and actually watch the crafting of the instrument. There were several dulcimers around so you could try them out. Some are more easily played than others. The hammer dulcimer is probably the most difficult and a strong piano background is helpful. We have a hammer dulcimer and a mountain dulcimer. These are McSpadden dulcimers that they put into our parlor as a marketing tool. We took them with us to have tuned and restrung. Very cool place. After The Dulcimer Shoppe we continued to our next stop, Mellon’s Country Store. It is an old general store. Reminded me of my childhood candy store in New Egypt, Rush Warwick’s. Had plenty of candy and other items for sale. The floors were wooden.
We continued our journey to Angler’s Restaurant. Stone County, our location, is a dry county. However just 15 minutes up the road is Angler’s and you can buy some alcohol there. That was our destination now. The weather was beautiful, so we dined out on the deck. Janey got a moonshine flight,. She was able to try 4 different moonshines. We had done something similar when we were in Nashville last year. We dropped Dennis off at their RV and Janey came back to our place to get some Iris blooms. Afterward, we said our “see ya laters” and Nancy took Janey home. I stayed home.
On her way back home as she was going through town, she saw smoke and lots of fire equipment. About a block from the Wildflower was a smoked BBQ restaurant, Kin Folks. We had not had a chance to eat there yet. And now we may never. It burned to the ground. The next edition of the local paper, Ledger had an article about it. That particular day, the owners allowed a potential buyer to run the operation for the day. As a former investigator, HHMMMM!??
April 16,2024
We had some heavy thunderstorms last night. So, the first thing this morning we did a little cleanup of picking up limbs, branches that had blown down last night. The big clean up was trying to pick up a shattered glass table. The only way to get most of the glass was to get the stone also. Since we are on vacation, Gresham came over and shoveled up the gravel/glass and took it someplace. Since Janey and Dennis are in town we decided we would venture out to the Ozark Folk Center State Park. It was very cool. On site they have a small village and you go from shop to shop to see artisans at work and you have the opportunity to buy some of the crafts. There is a wide assortment of craftsmen. There is a quilt/fabric, jewelry, blacksmith, toy, ceramic, knife, and many others. We roamed around and had a chance to listen to some live music. It was a beautiful day but as we were wrapping up our day you could see a storm rolling in. We opted to return home. Thus ended our day as Janey and Dennis were still recovering from their travels. And trying to dry out.
April 15, 2025
Nancy took Bree over to the campground to play with Tater and Charlie. They walked down to a creek and the dogs and Janey and Nancy had a great time. Nancy and Bree came home tired. They rested. Tonight is the first night of a sign language class. Krissa, Chris’s wife, is deaf. She is going to start a sign language class for anyone who wants it. Very cool.
Several years ago, when Carissa, our daughter, was attending Vincennes University to be a sign language interpreter. In addition, a Carmel Police Officer I was good friends with offered a sign language class at the fire station. We all took the class as a family. It has been a long time since we had used it. Being around Krissa, some of it has come back. But we will go to the class. Can only help. Also, it will give us a chance to meet some more people.
It was a great class.
April 14, 2024
Yesterday I wanted to mow the lawn as we are going to have a big crowd next weekend and we will be off for a few days. So I started the mowing yesterday but finished it up this morning after the breakfast service. We only had 2 people. Our “vacation” starts today. There are three breweries in the area. One is not open today so we are going to visit the other two. The first on our list is Rapps Barren Brewing Company in Mountain Home. That is an hour drive away. Being Sunday, they have a Sunday Brunch. The food selection is limited. I did get a flight of beer but was not really impressed with anything. I found one or two that were okay but nothing that I wanted to take home with me. Nancy and I split an appetizer of 3 beef sliders. They were very good. Nancy had their root beer, which they brew also. It was pretty good. No one was overly impressed with beer. The brewery itself was really cool. My favorite part was their water fountain that had a sign over it that said “Michelob Ultra”. Beer drinkers will know. And then on the way to the truck we saw a beautiful rod.
After Rapps, we headed back home. We had passed Norfolk Brewing on the way to Rapps so it was out next stop. They also had flights but they did not have 4 beers that I actually wanted to try. I settled for a taste of one and took a small pour of it. It was okay,. The brewery was small and served food but nothing that we really wanted.
The locals I talked to suggested the best brewery was the one closest to us but not open today, Gravity BrewWorks in Flat Rock, AR. I guess I’ll have to check it out at a later date. Our friends are Janey and Dennis. We got to know each other in Arizona when we spent the winter there. We’ve kept in touch and Janey likes to sample beers as well. Today was a little disappointing.
On the way home we stopped at the store to pick up cole slaw and rolls. I had smoked a pork butt yesterday and today we are having pulled pork sandwiches. It came out great. I was very pleased with it. We went home and had dinner. They had to get back to their dogs so Nancy and Janey made plans to walk the dogs and find some water for them to play in.
April 12, 2024
Happy 49th Anniversary to Nancy and I. Yes, 49 years! Nancy decided that she didn’t want to go out tonight for dinner so we went to PJ’s Rainbow Cafe for dinner last night. Great food. Our friends arrived okay but after traveling, they just wanted to chill and we’ll make plans for the rest of the week. One of our guests came to me before breakfast. She is a retired nurse, and she informed me that one of our guest fell against the desk at the front entrance, when he came in. I had checked them in and offered them a hand to bring in there luggage but he declined. I went on my business and then found this out this morning. The retired nurse bandaged the wounds and assessed as non life-threatening. Nancy came in and she went to check on them as they were late for breakfast. She had to change the sheets as there was blood from a couple of scrapes. She looked at the wounds and re-bandaged them. After breakfast, the three of us each wrote up a report for Chris. Standard procedure when an incident occurs. Our backgrounds came in handy. We contacted Chris and let him know of the situation and I scanned our incident reports and sent him the file.
April 10, 2024
After such a great weekend with our fiends from the eclipse group to a real bummer. First, we only have 6 people in the house. Secondly, yesterday and today are supposed to be our days off, but we have friends coming into town tomorrow so we are working to be able to have more time off. So, we had someone come in that was going to spend 3 nights with us. He came down in the morning before breakfast and spoke with Nancy. They are leaving today because, are you ready for this? The floors creak too much. Yes, a house that is 118 years old, a B & B, and the floors creak. At least they stayed and ate breakfast. One couple never bothered to show up for breakfast. Such is the life of a B & B.
April 9, 2024
Today will be a really busy day for Nancy and Jessica as they have rooms to flip. That means to clean them and get them ready for the next guests. Some of which is coming in today. My day is the same; cook, serve, clean up. The Eclipse crowd is leaving today. Chris wanted a couple of the guests to do a video review. A few of them volunteered. I going to miss this group. This morning we started breakfast with yogurt with bananas and homemade granola. Then I made scrambled eggs, bacon, and Scottish pancakes. Our recipe book also had a recipe for peanut butter syrup. So I thought what the heck It went over real well. Nancy loved it. After all the photos were taken and the videos done Nancy started stripping the beds and clearing the rooms of any cups and/or containers. Jessica comes in to help flip rooms and is a great help. She is fabulous at her job. As I had finished my job, I was sitting in the kitchen enjoying a cup of coffee. Nancy came in with a stack of letters and cash. These fine folks left notes of thanks and notes of green as an appreciation for their wonderful visit. It was very touching.
And then, the couple from Connecticut came by to thank me again for helping them find a room in Mountain View. I thought that was so very nice.
April 8, 2024
Today is the eclipse. I made enough cookies to last a couple of days so no baking. For breakfast we served a Berry Cheesecake Yogurt, the Amish Casserole, and sausage. People have been enjoying the food. Hardly any leftovers again. I don’t want to spend a lot of time prepping so I planned the menu accordingly. We also have a cottage that we rent out and it had some wonderful people in it. Before I started dishes, I went out and set up my lawn chair. It takes a while to do dishes from a large breakfast.
Between loads of dishes I set up my chair to view the eclipse., I was talking to our guests from the cottage and as they are not a part of breakfast or snacks as they have a full kitchen in the cottage. So I went inside and brought out a few chocolate chip cookies for them. They loved them.
I just finished up and as I was walking outside, one of the cottage guests said they were about to come get me. It was almost time for the eclipse. It was very cool to sit with all these people in our back yard and see the eclipse and socialize. The one gentleman in the cottage is a professional photographer. He had quite the set up and we were able to see some amazing images. He has posted them on his website Reflections of Thought. Totality lasted at a maximum of 4 minutes and 27 seconds. We were in the right place as we witnessed 4 minutes and 14 seconds. Was really neat how you could feel the temperature drop and see the sunset at 2:00PM. And then to feel the warmth again. All through this past weekend, we had a festival going on in town. They had the Square blocked off, food trucks, vendors, etc. We had not been a part of it yet as we have been busy. Today was going to be our day to explore the festival. I decided I wasn’t cooking tonight either. So we listened to some music, walked around the various vendors and found a food truck for dinner.
April 7, 2024
I try to plan a menu that is varied and covers all the basics. I also use recipes that can be prepped the night before. In the mornings I will go into the kitchen at 7:00AM and the first order of business is to set the oven temperature and start coffee. Our larger Bun machine is not working correctly so we are using a Mr. Coffee. It takes a while to brew a pot but we keep brewing them as needed. While the oven is heating and the coffee brewing, I check our Cafe. where we have the snacks, sweets, and tea and coffee with our Keurig. The cookies were gone. So after breakfast I will have to make more of something. Breakfast this morning starts with a Fruit Salad with an Orange - Vanilla Syrup. The main dish is a Farmers Casserole, which contains almost everything and bacon. I also served shirred eggs. Again leftovers were very minimal. Once all the food is served, I then remember to take pictures of the food. Maybe one of these days. This group has a sweet tooth. A couple of them suggested chocolate chip cookies. Some wanted semi-sweet chips, some milk chocolate, some dark chocolate. This was real easy to accomplish. I use the same cookie recipe but just switch out the chip flavors. So I made all three varieties.
April 6, 2024
Yesterday while I was trying to decide what baked goods I should make for our arriving guests, Nancy suggested white chocolate chip / macadamia nut cookies. I had never made them before so I found a recipe and tried them. They came out great. Today the eclipse crowd rolled in. Talking with them, they are a group of high school friends from Minnesota. There are 13 of them. Our Inn is full. They are a real good group of folks. I try to have a sweet snack for them. Today I made some peanut butter fudge. One of the guests requested his favorite cookie, peanut butter. So I had all the ingredients so I made a batch of peanut butter cookies. I’m not a big fan of them but these turned out real good. This morning’s breakfast started with Ambrosia as the fruit dish. Then we had Baked French Toast Casserole with Blueberries and sausage. They thoroughly enjoyed the food and left very little on the table. Some are just going to chill at the Inn today and some are going on a planned excursion. These folks are a lot of fun. While I was doing my prep, a gentleman came in and was asking if we had any space available. I told him no, we were all booked up and no one cancelled. I thought I would call Chris, our owner and owner of the Wildflower as he knows the industry and town real well. Meanwhile the elderly couple decided to walk around the festival and check back with me before they leave to go back to Little Rock, about 2 hours away. The weather forecast for the eclipse is iffy in Little Rock and they flew in from Connecticut for the event. Chris finally got back to me so I walked over to the festival to find them. It just so happened that Chris had a room cancellation and had a room available. I walked them over to the Wildflower and introduced them to Chris. It’s all I could do. So I went back to finish my prep.
March 20, 2024
Today I wanted to kind of settle in. We have been traveling with the smoker and the Blackstone but they have been kept in the basement. Yes that is a term for a certain storage area in an RV. I did not get them out in South Carolina because the weather was not that nice and we were only there for one month. Same is true for the American flag. Since we were only there for a month, we didn’t bother putting it up. So my first step was to get my table and Blackstone out of the belly of the RV. After I had those set up, I had to pull a 20 pound propane tank out of the bed of the truck. Check. The Blackstone is ready to cook.
Next I pulled the smoker and pellets out of the basement and got that set up. Check. Now before I can put the flag up, I need to wash the front of the RV. As I was finishing the washing, the sky darkened. Thunder boomed. So I thought maybe tomorrow I’ll get the flag put up. Fortunately the storm did not last long and there was not very much rain. There was enough of a break in the weather that I was able to put the flag up. Phillip had given us a remote he found at an after Christmas sale. The flag plugs into a small box and then plugs into the outlet. Then we can control on/off from inside. Works great!!
To cap the day off, I opened a beer I had bought in Colorado. It was Howitzer Amber Ale. Really good. Then for dinner I fired up the Blackstone and made cheddar cheeseburgers with bacon. They were really good. I’m happy to be cooking outside again.