June 30, 2024
Hooray!! The day has finally arrived when Carissa, our daughter, and her family will pull into town for the week. It was around 4:00PM when they finally arrived. We had not seen them since last July when we left Colorado to head home. So great to see them and get the hugs from the grands! We ordered Pizza Hut and sat and talked for a while util it was time for bed. Grandma has a lot planned for their visit. I also have a couple of things I want to share with them as well. However, we still have to run the Inn. So tomorrow morning I will be fixing breakfast for not only our family but for 4 guests as well. Unfortunately Brian still has to work. We set up a little office space in the Oak Room. It is a tiny room we use for singles or as a back up. It is not on the web to reserve. It has good WiFi and will be perfect for him.
June 29, 2024
Tonight is the Songwriters Roundup at the Mountain View Meeting Place. It was well worth the $15 per ticket price. Two of the songwriters, Joe Allen and David Lynn Jones, have written chart songs for the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, and Loretta Lynn to name a few. It was great to hear them relate the stories as to how they came up with the songs. In addition to these two, we heard Pam Stetser, Kevin “Tuck” Tuckfield. The neatest part was listening to Tim Crouch. He is not a songwriter but he is the number one guy for studio work in Nashville. He is so talented. It was fun to listen to the banter on stage. I believe all of these folks hail from Arkansas. These folks were also very humble and down to earth. Had the chance to speak to a lot of them during the intermission as they made their way through the audience. Tuck and his wife stayed at the Ozark Country Inn so we had a chance to talk more after they ate breakfast and before they had to leave. Nice folks.
June 28, 2024
As we are approaching July Fourth we decided we needed to decorate the Inn. We spent a few hours and this is what it looks like.
June 27, 2024
It has been decided that our daughter, Carissa, and her entire family will come to visit with us over the Fourth of July week. Excellent news. Our first plan was for us to leave here the end of June and head west for Cheyenne Mountain again. That plan did not pan out so this is Plan B. We have been talking to some locals to find out the best place(s) to swim, and other kid friendly activity. Today we are going to explore Blanchard Springs. They have a couple of areas where people swim. One of them is awesome with a small rock cliff for diving.
June 22, 2024
Sine the ER visit, we have been using ear wax drops to help get rid of an ear wax buildup. I still feel ok but not quite right yet. Actually was feeling very good until around 9:00 PM I had just had my shower andI was sitting in my recliner watching TV and then it hit me like a freight train. I was so dizzy I could not stand up. I was very nauseous and eventually it gave way to vomitting. Too dizzy to make it to the bathroom. Had a towel but it didn't help a lot. I wound up back in the shower. I slept in the recliner and Kayla came over to help with breakfast. I just supervised. Within a couple of days I was back to normal. But, oh what a night!
June 18, 2024
Unusual day today. The last couple of days I have had bouts of lightheadedness and dizziness. I’ve had them in the past but they soon disappeared. This has been going on since Sunday and this afternoon it was bad. Nancy drove me to the local hospital and I got to see the Stone County Hospital ER. They ran several tests, urine, blood, 12 lead ECG, CT Scan. All tests said I was healthy as a horse. I was given a 1,000ml bag of sodium chloride. After all of this I was diagnosed with vertigo. I was prescribed a prednisone dose pack and a motion sickness pill. As I walked out of the hospital I felt several times better than when i had gone in. This too shall pass.
June 16, 2024
Happy Father's Day! After work today we are going to go to the Skillet Restaurant for lunch buffet. The Skillet Restaurant is located in Ozark State Park. It is very scenic and the food was billed as Southern Comfort food. As I have been doing a lot of cooking lately and as it is a buffet, I was not overly impressed with the food. It was okay but not stellar. A lot of people rave about several restaurants in the area but I am not that impressed. I guess I’m just a food snob. When it comes to BBQ, I’d rather do it myself and not eat anywhere that offers it.
June 15, 2024
Happy 68th Birthday to my wife. We have guests to feed and rooms to tend to today but after that we are heading north to Mountain Home. Why? Easy to answer. B, double E, double R, U, N; Beerrun! ;) We are currently in Stone County. It is one of several dry counties in Arkansas. Baxter County north (Mountain Home) and Van Buren County (Clinton) to our west are wet counties. Either direction is about an hour away. However, you may purchase alcohol there. Occasionally our guests are unaware of this situation and just want a cold beer after driving all day. We have been able to provide them with such at no cost. No big deal except I was running low on beer. So we had to take a trip to restock. We opted for a late lunch at Arby’s in Mountain Home. It was the worst experience ever at an Arby’s. It was so bad, Nancy called corporate to complain. The food was decent but the customer service was terrible.
We got back in time to go to the Meeting Place for the show. Tonight was Kim Robins. She actually lives in Nashville, IN. Being from IN we knew a lot about her home town. The band was good. The music was mostly bluegrass and “old” country. A couple of the band members are staying at our B&B. They are very nice guys.
June 14, 2024
We had a couple check in for just tonight but the unusual thing is that they have 4 baby raccoons with them. They had recently cut down a tree on their property and once the tree was down, Momma Raccoon fled and left her 3 male and 1 female babies behind. These kind souls have taken care of raccoons before and then released them back into the wild. That is the plan for these four as well. I have to admit they are kind of cute.
June 12, 2024
We got up in the morning and finished moving all of our items out of the cottage and into our RV. While Nancy worked on flipping the cottage to get it ready for our guests, I started unpacking things and putting things away. We had to find the important items like towels, soap, sheets, etc. Starting tonight we are home again. Over the next few days there will be items to move back into the RV from the garage and put our lighted flag up, etc. But for now, we are good. Having lived in the toy hauler for 6 weeks has given us a new appreciation for our RV.
June 11, 2024
Today is the day we go to Conway and pick up our RV. We have a 10:45AM appointment at Discount Tire to have our tires rotated and balanced. The other service work was done last week. We arrived a little early for our appointment but they got us right in and we were out the door in no time. Just so happened that across the street from Discount Tire was a car wash. The truck needed a bath desperately, so it finally got one. Another one of our planned stops is also close by, Sam’s Club. We had a small list and as we were walking around we found some food that would be nice to have but we did not have a cooler so we checked out what they had. We did not want to spend the money as coolers have gotten expensive. They did have an isolated bag, similar to the one we have. So we opted to get the bag and buy a few groceries. A test run if you will for possible future grocery runs. It’s lunch time. We were in the neighborhood of a Chick-Fil-A so it was time for a chicken sandwich and a peach milkshake. Yum ! Yum ! We called Moix’s RV to let them know we would pick up our RV in about an hour. After lunch we went to a Kroger grocery store. We were hoping that this store would have Boar’s Head deli meats. We were in luck. They did. Finally after 4 months we got some good meat and American cheese. Yes, I am a food snob. I can’t help it. We picked up some good food and found our way to Moix. The sad part is that they did not have any pork roll, a.k.a. Taylor ham. They had our RV sitting and waiting for us. I went inside and paid the bill. Hoses are not covered by our extended warranty.
Before we could hitch up, I had to adjust our Demco hitch. I had to open the jaws a little when we hitched the Cyclone. Now I had to close them back. This took maybe 10 minutes. Just as I had imagined, the batteries were dead. I forgot to disconnect when we dropped it off. Fortunately one of the workers brought a jump box out and we were able to get it raised enough to hitch up. And off we went to go back home.
We arrived back in Mountain View around 4:30PM. As we are setting up again I decided to get Snap Pads for our hydraulic jacks. The literally snap onto the feet and give a sturdy base for the RV to set better. Once they were installed we unhitched and leveled up. We then hooked up our electricity and our water and our sewer lines. Then it was time to turn on the AC and try and cool off the rather warm RV. It felt so good to have it back.
Because the cottage is rented out for tomorrow and the next 2 nights, we opted to start moving things out of the cottage this evening. We had just about everything out in about 2 1/2 hours. We spent the night in the cottage.
June 10, 2024
I rolled out of bed this morning around 9:30AM. So great to be in a large space again. After breakfast we had a couple of items to address before we could return the RV to Chris’s. We cleaned the bedroom AC filter. It was really bad. Then we replaced the seal on the toilet. The old one allowed water to leak through. I had told Chris a few weeks ago about it and he ordered the seal. I installed it today and all is good. We then blew off the slides with the assistance of a blower and a nozzle extension kit. No ladders. We got it all closed up and disconnected all the water and sewer lines and then the electric line. We then took the RV back to where we found it at Chris’s. Getting in and out of here is no easy feat and then to back it into his RV spot is also challenging. At least we got it done without any incidents. Afterwards we fueled the truck for our trip to Conway tomorrow. While we are there, I have an appointment to have the tires rotated and balanced with Discount Tire. Then we are going to head to Sam’s and then locate a grocery store, at least we hope, that has Boar’s Head meats. I so miss my luncheon meats.
June 9, 2024
The day has finally arrived. This morning we served 15 guests. Chris actually allowed us to block out the entire Inn for 3 days to allow enough time to clean and for us to move. We had a full house and a full cottage over the weekend. Some were here to attend a John Prine Tribute concert. The rest was a family that was in Mountain View to celebrate the life of Grandpa. He was a retired firefighter and loved the Mountain View area. They had lived here for a while also. It was a great group. Although unusual, I fed the family members in the cottage as well. That is why the number is so high. We got everyone checked out, all the dishes done, and the rooms stripped by noon. After a short rest break, it was time to attack the RV. By 4:30PM we had moved everything out of the RV and into the cottage. We had been up since 6:00AM so it was a very long day. No alarm clock tomorrow morning. We are also very thankful for Door Dash. We have a free one year subscription either through Amazon Prime or T-Mobile. Can’t remember which one. But I love it.
June 4, 2024
It’s that time of year again. Time to service the Ram. I had made the appointment a few weeks ago. We are going to go to Melbourne, AR this morning to have the oil changed and fuel filters replaced. This is necessary for a couple of reasons. First and foremost is that it is good “health” for the truck. The second is that we are out of town again and it is time to register the truck. Last year we got an exception when we were in Colorado. I just have to show proof of service and that it is in good condition and file online with the state. Then I can get it registered. The drive was interesting. 20 miles of windy and curving road. They even had a sign saying the same thing. We did see a couple of white tail deer on the trip. Definitely taking a different way home.
Actually we are not going straight home. In the kitchen in the Inn we have a peninsula that is a good place to hang out, especially when we are waiting for our guests to finish eating so we can clean up. We have 3 wooden stools but they are not real comfortable as they have no padding in the seat nor do they have a back. Nancy found a couple of stools for $25 in Rose Bud, AR. So we are headed to Rose Bud. It was an uneventful drive. The stools turned out to be a great find. Once we had the stools, we headed home. about 45 minutes to an hour drive. On the way we decided to call Moix RV to see what the status of our repair was. Low and behold, it is ready. Why we never got a call is beyond us but none the less. It is ready. We blocked out the cottage for Sunday through Wednesday of next week. We get to move our stuff again. Looking forward to getting our home back.
May 25, 2024
Patty and Tom arrived for breakfast a little late. But the timing was perfect. All the guests had eaten and I had cleared the table. Now Nancy and I could sit with them while Patty, Tom, and Nancy ate breakfast. After they finished, Nancy and I had to work. We had rooms to prepare, dishes to wash, etc. While we were working, Patty and Tom explored Mountain View on their own. When we finished we just texted and said whenever they were ready. They came back and we made our plan. We were going to walk over to the Rainbow Cafe for our pie. Patty and Tom both had lemon meringue, Nancy had a piece of Arkansas Trash Pie, and I had my usual Banana Split pie. A good time was had by all. Afterwards, we walked back to OCI and went into the dining room and played Phase 10. Between hands I warmed up some pulled pork I had thawed out a couple of days ago and we had pulled pork sandwiches. Yum. Great time. We said our good byes as they were going to leave early in the morning and head to Texas for a day or two before going back home. Until next time.
May 24, 2024
A couple of days ago I got a text from Patty. They were vacationing in SC and then were going to go to KY to see the Ark. Then they were going to stop by here to see Nancy and I. I had just finished doing the dishes when Patty and Tom rolled in. We were going to put them up in the Cottage. We had just started to unload when Chris called and asked if we could have Patty and Tom stay at another B & B as he had someone who needed the Cottage for 4 days. He would make the arrangements and pay for it. We all agreed. While he worked on the arrangements we walked over to the Rainbow Cafe for lunch. Lunch was wonderful as usual. We were all so full we told them we would be back tomorrow for our pie. Reda, The Pie Lady, makes pies for the Rainbow and she is well known for it. And they are delicious. After lunch we walked around town for a couple of hours visiting various antique shops and other shops. We had an enjoyable time. We went back to OCI and then took Patty and Tom to their B & B. We also took our chairs so on the way back, we would drop off the chairs for the Friday Night Music on the Square. Patty and Tom stayed at the Old Broom Factory B & B. The room was nice and clean and only a few minutes away. We got them settled in and then on the way home we dropped off Patty and Nancy and our chairs at the Square. Tom and I parked and walked to the Square. We had an enjoyable evening of music on the Square. It was a lot of fun. After the concert, they went back to the Broom Factory and we would see them in the morning at breakfast.
May 19, 2024
Typical day except for the fact that I had some maintenance to do. We had some guests just open the door and walked in. Behind them was another guest who was looking for a room but he walked in as well. We have a coded lock on the front door and it automatically locks about 5 seconds after the entry code is used. The second guest called Chris and he texted us about someone in our parlor. We were already on our way as we saw a car but didn’t hear anyone ring the Ring doorbell. It was an interesting night. We got everyone registered and eventually figured out the full story. Before this, I tried to get the door to lock. It would not accept the lock code and it would not do a factory reset. Fortunately we had a spare in the storage room so I had to change out the entire lock and reprogram it to the existing codes.
The story was that the first couple just opened the door. They didn’t have to use a code. The door was unlocked. It was a good thing we discovered this now and not later. It could have been malfunctioning for a few days but we will never know. Just what I wanted to do on a Sunday evening.
May 18, 2024
This morning when Bree was out for her morning potty walk, she found a visitor in our backyard. We just left him alone and a while later he was gone. See the picture. Tonight we went to the Meeting Place to listen to the Casey Penn band. They played a lot of their original songs. One of the reasons we went is that the guitar player is one of our guests. He is also a songwriter. The music was very good. We had an enjoyable evening.
May 15, 2024
Today was an exploration day. We had been told about a couple of really neat places to visit. First on our list is The Swinging Bridge. It is a historic cable type bridge with an interesting history. It was the first bridge built as part of the first road in the Ozark National Forest. It was built in 1914 but has been rebuilt a couple of times due to flooding. However the original concrete abutments are still anchoring the bridge. It was a neat bridge
I thought we were closer to the next stop but it took a little longer to get to Calico Rock. Calico Rock is a small little town that sits on the White River. We stopped in “downtown” and parked in front of the Calico Rock Museum and Visitors Center. We really were not expecting much but we went in and talked to a very nice lady. She told us there was a timeline museum that we can walk through for free. You start on one side and work you way downstairs and under the visitors center and come up on the other side. It was an interesting and educational tour. Being on the river it was an original port for steamships. Railroads actually put the town out of business. Around the corner is an actual ghost town. We drove and looked at the signs telling us what used to be in the buildings. While in the museum we were told about the City Rock Bluff. It is an out of the way area where you can look down on the White River and Calico Rock. The view was beautiful. We opted to call it a day but we now know a few places to recommend for our guests.
May 14, 2024
We only had 2 guests for breakfast this morning. Nancy came in with Bree as I was doing the dishes and Bree was not moving well at all. She was limping and favoring her right rear leg. Nancy called and we got an appointment with a local vet for 1:00PM They were going to work us in. German Shepards are notorious for having hip dysplasia. The vet did not find anything wrong or abnormal so he suggested giving her Tramadol. We had some but forgot to bring it. So he gave us some. Bree was seen by our vet before we left town and they suggested monthly injections. But they were a little costly and we were getting ready to leave. The shots were discussed again but the local price here was quite a bit less. The vet also stated that the majority of his patients come off of all the pain meds after the 2nd injection. So we are giving that a try. With her monthly meds, its probably a wash.