2016 Haberstock Herald

2016 Haberstock Herald

I sit at my desk looking out on a snowy winter wonderland and can hardly believe this is our third winter in Greer running the White Mountain Lodge Bed and Breakfast!  We love being in the mountains and living in this charming valley. I am truly enjoying the beauty each season has to offer, having lived the majority of my years in the desert.  Jim and our black lab, Zella, get out nearly every day to hike trails.  In the winter, Jim cross country skis or snowshoes with Zella bounding through the snow.  It's her favorite time of year!  
     Winter Wonderland is in full swing and Jim and I are playing reindeer games with kids on the back lawn.  We had a fabulous year hosting guests at the lodge. Jim and I have become a great team in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Our guest reviews on Trip Advisor, earned the lodge an award for a top B&B!  We hope 2017 brings more guests and makes the lodge self-sustaining.  It's really fun to meet people from all walks of life and from all over the world.  Sometimes we discover some amazing connections which always adds to the fun.
     We continue making progress with the sanding and re-staining of all the outside wood, landscape improvements, updating bathrooms, lodge decor, etc.  Since Jim still works full time for Honeywell from the office, progress is slow, but it creeps along!  Lyn handles all the book keeping, reservations, marketing, cleaning, laundering and is becoming pretty handy with power tools.  She just fell off a ladder once this year and her thumb has been healing for awhile since it got in the way of a power sander, but no trips to the ER required (Lyn's nursing background makes her knowledgeable and stubborn).  
     Our daughter, Kara, and husband, Nate, are in Tucson.  Nate is in his clinical rotations in medical school and Kara is busy working on her master's degree and as a full-time data specialist in a research lab at U of A.  Our daughter, Lauren, graduated from Pepperdine University and is currently in Frankenberg, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship as an assistant English teacher in a high school.  She is auditing a couple of courses at a nearby university and enjoying traveling, making new friends and visiting old ones she made during her year studying abroad.  We visit over the internet nearly every week.
   Jim and I are attending a Calvary Chapel in Springerville and enjoying the fellowship.  Lyn sings on the worship team and we are the mission coordinators.  We also host a bible study in Greer, getting together for dinner, study and prayer for one another.  Life has troubles, challenges and struggles as well as delights and rejoicing and we are thankful to share it all with others, looking to our Lord and Savior, Jesus, who is our assurance, strength and everlasting hope.
   We wish you a blessed Christmas season and a new year full of hope!
             Jim and Lyn Haberstock 

Marketing Strategy??????

Clever marketing can really help your business, but sometimes it's hard to tell what the message is supposed to accomplish.  There's a funeral home we pass by that has a marquis.  Now, that could be helpful to announce someone's service, but anything else could be misunderstood.  For example, for about 6 months the sign said," Enjoy the season."  What season?  Winter, summer, death and mourning?  I noticed recently the message had been updated to, " Look Alive!  Smile!"  Are they trying to reassure you about the body preparation for an open casket service?  Will your loved one be smiling and look alive?  I have to admit, every time I pass that way, I will be looking to see what's up next.  I could offer some suggestions.  How about, "end of year casket blow out","scratch and dent sale", "buy one, get one free".  Just for morbid fun, I found a few that caught my eye:

Not Just a Boy Scout Motto

We had a young couple staying at the lodge who had an experience that could have ended badly. They headed out after breakfast for their day's adventure and it turned out to be more than they expected. They began hiking the West Baldy trail in the afternoon, got to the top and decided to keep going and descend the East Baldy Trail.  Unfortunately, having started rather late in the day to hike this route and not knowing that the East Baldy Trail has rock formations to cross before picking up the trail again, they wandered off trail as the sun was setting.  They had no cell phone coverage, so attempts to call us or 911 failed.  They ended up spending the night on the mountain huddled together to keep warm.  Thankfully, it only got down to 33 degrees, and at daylight they began searching for the trail and managed to get back to the lodge.
For anyone who is going to hike anywhere you must be prepared for the best outcome:

• Know your route and how long it will take you to complete it
• If you haven't hiked it before, talk to someone who has
• Weather: know the forecast and time of sunset 
• Tell someone where you are going and when you will be back
• Take a day pack with snacks, water, compass/GPS, jacket or sweatshirt, flashlight
• Change your thinking from "we don't want to carry supplies we won't need" to "anything can happen out here and we're going to be prepared"

A dear friend had a great saying he used often in mentoring younger people:
Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
It's worth keeping in mind for pretty much everything.

Cat Lovers Beware

We had a pack of coyotes ravaging the village.  They went after a small dog and 2 cats are missing. We came home one night to hear them howling within 100 yards of our back door.  Our dog was out on her run and we quickly got her and ourselves in the house.  Haven't heard them for about a week, so they must have moved on.

What is that noise???

It's been a busy bugling season so far.  I asked Jim to describe the bull elk's call to gather a harem and announce his territory so I could make sure I knew if I was hearing the right noise.  He described it as someone playing the recorder, badly.  Yes!!! That's what I had been  hearing, wondering what the terrible noise was.  We hiked in a canyon to catch the aspens in full fall color and we could hear bugling on both sides of the canyon around us.  We finally caught a glimpse of a group of females through the trees, but never caught sight of the bull that day.
During the rut, or mating season, bulls are so overloaded with hormones that they become quite aggressive toward anything they see.  We have a friend whose horse was minding it's own business in a pasture near us and was gored by an elk who came out of some willows and apparently thought the horse was competition he needed to get rid of.  The horse is recovering well, but I think that elk needs to get some glasses.
Animal sounds are interesting.  When I look at a huge elk bull and then hear this high, off pitch squeal I wonder if something went wrong in the genetic code along the way.  Or perhaps God just decided to have some fun with this big bully!  The females like it and we'll look forward to new calves next May.

Dumpster Divers....Raccoon Rescue

These little rascals got left behind after the family raided the garbage dumpster during the night last week.  They couldn't get out.  Jim propped a board in the dumpster so they could climb out.  Two of this trio were back this morning to the delight of our guests.  Everyone was heading out to the dumpster to take a peek.  Later, when it was quiet, I opened one of the flaps and propped a board.  I stepped away and waited.  I could here them chattering away in there and then the first little head popped up, followed by the second.  They weren't sure how to get down from the dumpster and then one of them grabbed hold of a gate pole, expecting to climb up and out of the enclosure, but to it's surprise, started sliding down.  The sibling followed suit and slid into the other causing them to land in a heap on the ground.  They were just about to head out the open gate when they saw me, so they turned and scurried under the fence.  Jim said they should be big enough to get out by themselves in a couple of weeks.

Septic Sorrows

Between 20-25% of Americans, mostly in rural areas, have no connection to centralized sewage systems and utilize septic systems on their property to manage waste.  This summer I learned a lot about how they operate, or DON"T, during the week that Jim and Lauren were having a father-daughter hiking trip.
After a busy weekend of guests I got rooms cleaned and turned over.  Wednesday afternoon I headed down to the basement to tackle the mountains of laundry.  There was brown water standing in one of my washing machines.  Hmm.  So, I started a cleaning cycle on that machine and used the other to take the peak off the mountain of laundry.  I was folding load 4 when I realized water was running all over the floor.  The drain pipe to the sewer was spewing soapy rinse water.  Hmm....don't think any more laundry is getting done tonight.  I got hold of our plumber early the next morning and he bumped other appointments to get out to the lodge.  In the mean time I was trying to find a property map to locate the septic tank.  I came up with two maps that placed it in different locations...hmm.
The plumber and his helper started digging.  They tried different spots all day within a reasonable distance of where the maps indicated...no septic tank.  They did find the major pipe that connected two drains and it had an outlet valve that could be snaked.  The pipe was compacted with all the things people are not supposed to put down a toilet on a septic system.  They were able to clear the line, but the septic tank was going to have to be found and pumped out.
Jim's welcome home was to get to work digging.  After he was able to contact the previous owner and verify that both our maps were wrong, he started digging in the right area.  Once he hit it, we had a wonderful friend with a backhoe come dig 4 feet down and expose the whole tank.  The "honey dipper" came the next day and vacuumed out our tank.  Next we will have cement towers built up and a cover that can be driven over so we don't have to go digging again.
I ordered signs and installed them above every toilet that has a list of just about everything people do but should never flush down a toilet, especially if you have a septic tank.  You just keep learning new things all the time, but I'm ready for this summer session to be over!

All By Myself

This summer, Jim took a trip to California with our daughter, Lauren, to hike in the Sierra Nevadas.  I knew it would be challenging to be here running things ALL BY MYSELF, but I really wanted them to have this time and experience together.  The day they left, I was expecting a full lodge.  I was geared up and ready to roll.
Most all our guests are wonderful, but there are a few that can really drain your patience and hospitality meter.  Of course, this would be the time it happens, when I'm ALL BY MYSELF!  Most of the time everything is in good working order, except when I'm ALL BY MYSELF.  Usually, I make a pretty good estimate on the amount of food to prepare for breakfast, except when I'm ALL BY MYSELF.  That's when I have to eat an entire extra 9x13 pan of baked praline french toast, ALL BY MYSELF!    
There is a synergy when you are working with your best friend.  Everything that needs to get done gets done, but it is tough when I'm ALL BY MYSELF.  So the next time, Jim and Lauren were headed out, this time to attend a wedding in MO, I was determined not to do this ALL BY MYSELF! My fabulous brother and sister-in-law came up while they were gone and everything was smooth.

Super Summer

This is our second summer here in Greer and we have probably had twice the amount of guests from last summer.  Our little village was busy!  Restaurants were hopping, Rental cabins and lodges were at capacity most weekends and many weekdays.  From the end of May until now I can count the number of days on one hand that I wasn't fixing breakfast for guests in the lodge!  We are so blessed to meet wonderful people and help them relax and enjoy this beautiful mountain valley.

Drone Dummies

Technology can be great unless it is in the hands of people with no common sense, no common courtesy and no common care.  Several drones have been sighted during the fighting of the Cedar Fire.  People want to know what's going on and see it up close and personal, but at what expense? All air support fighting the fire has to be suspended and grounded when a drone is sighted.  No retardant drops, no water drops, no information to firefighters on the ground.  Hey, drone dummies...let them do their jobs, get this fire out and keep everyone safe!  Maybe we need to bring in some sharp shooters and bring em down.

Friday Night Lights

Last Friday night I was headed back to the lodge from Springerville after picking up some groceries. Back in the old days, I was taught to flash my lights to alert an oncoming driver to dim the lights.  It was considered a courtesy and a safety measure then.  I've been doing it for nearly 40 years.  So, after flashing my lights at an oncoming vehicles, I apparently alarmed a deputy sheriff, who turned around to follow me.  When I flashed my lights at more vehicles, I became a renegade.  On went his lights and I pulled over and respectfully listened to him sum up my character as an aggressive driver looking to instigated road rage.  For all of my friends over the past years of my life, you are all probably laughing at the thought.  Sorry, Dad, but I'm going to have to disregard your training and go along with the new ways of not doing things that used to be common sense so I don't ruin my reputation and land in jail for inciting road rage.

Baby Elk

 Jim and Zella came upon this newborn elk  on a hike.  They are born either at the end of May or the first couple of weeks in June.  Moms are very protective and little ones often stay hidden, so they can be hard to get a glimpse of.  I think they felt a little safer way back in a mountain meadow, so they were out and about.  Once mom was aware of Jim and Zella she began bugling to her calf.

Another little one that Jim and Zella came upon a mile and a half later.

Moose Event?????

We get a lot of questions via phone, e-mail or doorbell.  This is my favorite one so far.  Someone called asking if we were having a moose event.  I tend to be geographically challenged, but I was pretty sure there are no moose in Arizona.  I did my due diligence and called a board member for the Greer Civic Association just to make sure there were no moose being brought in for some event I did not know about.  Nope...no moose event here.

Greer Days Amazing Race

Greer Days was great fun with our village parade, craft and food fair, silent auction for some lovely items and stays in Greer, and our very own version of the popular Amazing Race.  We were one of the challenges for the second leg of the race.  We had games set up on the lawn and teams had to choose between getting through a croquet course or getting three targets with lawn toss to get the next clue.  Our winning team had a great time and said they'd be back next year to defend their title.

John Wayne Days

It was a fabulous weekend in Eager for the John Wayne Days the first weekend of June.  There were events all over town with fun and fundraising for the John Wayne Cancer Foundation.  The rodeo took me back to childhood days at the Gila County Fairgrounds.
I'm Arizona born and raised and have never owned a pair of boots, so I decided it was high time to remedy that.  First rodeo I've been to with boots.  Yippee!!!
Rodeos have the best fat laden food ever.  We had frybread tacos and curly fries.  Yum.  Next year? I'm there...maybe with my first cowboy hat ever!

I Do Windows

June is usually pretty dry, so I got out the ladder and got the windows washed.  It's no easy task getting to some of them on the second floor, so this is the best view out the upstairs windows all year.  The rains will soon be here and leave spots that will remain until I get up on the roof again...probably next June.

May Teasing

Having lived in the desert most of my life, I am not used to such fluctuating weather in the mountains.  My desert wardrobe consisted of more sandals than closed shoes, more short sleeves than long, shorts, capris, skirts and summery dresses.  In the past year I have worn sandals only a few times, short sleeves/skirts or dresses rarely, and no shorts/capris.  Only when I head for the desert for a few days are these items used.
We had some promising days in the 60's, but then nature laughed and gave us snow and hail in mid May.  While our Phoenician friends have their air conditioners going, we are still running the heat.  I am beginning to think that I will be giving away a chunk of my clothing that I may never wear again, but I am holding out to see if it warms up enough and if I have acclimated enough to put them on this summer.  For now, I am layered in winter clothing, hoping that the weather will stop teasing.

April Projects

April is probably the slowest time for businesses in Greer, but a busy time for business owners.  This is the time of year to deep clean, re-model, paint, fix-up, etc.  I have painted a bathroom, re-caulked a tub, replaced window coverings, painted a stairwell and hallway in the lodge, and then gutted our little cabin to replace flooring, bathroom fixtures, and kitchen cabinets and counter tops.  I'm ready for a vacation!
In the last week we've had three little snow flurries, but spring is coming!  The trees are just starting to bud, the grass and willows are greening in the meadow, the robins and other birds are back, the deer are coming around.  The sounds of ducks quacking, birds singing, and frogs chirping are in the air.
It's pretty windy here in the spring and lots of dead trees from the Wallow Fire are blowing over.  Jim and Zella hike Butler Trail often and Jim has been taking a chainsaw to cut through the fallen trees across the trail.
Jim started watering the lawn to green it up, but Zella decided chewing on hoses was fun, so our indestructible hoses are in several pieces.
Pretty soon, it will be warm enough to begin the outside projects of planting new flowers and the sanding of weathered wood for re-staining.  Everything wood needs a fresh coat of sealant and painted decking needs touch-up.  There's always something to do!   I will be glad when Jim retires from Honeywell and he can join me full time!
Happy Spring!

The Rules Don't Apply to Me

An all too common attitude with people is that rules only apply to other people.  5 years ago the mountains were very dry and fire restrictions were everywhere.  It would be nearly impossible not to know that you could not have a campfire.  Yet, two campers decided the rules did not apply to them.  After their morning campfire, they left their site for a hike, the wind whipped up and blew embers from their fire and ignited the largest wildfire in Arizona's history.  Over 538,000 acres of forest and wilderness areas were torched, with a cost of $79 million dollars to contain and a loss of homes, barns, and other structures.  21 homes were lost in Greer as well as other structures. Zella and I walked among some of the ruins recently.  Some home owners have rebuilt, but other sites contain only the remnants of a stone fireplace or flagstone patio.  At the end of East Fork Road is an old church camp, built in the 1920's, that welcomed summer campers, and hosted church retreats and family reunions.  I spent some summer days there as a camp counselor, and winter days with a college young adult group playing in the snow.  I saw my first bears early one morning as they headed up from raiding the trash at the mess hall.  I sang around the campfire and listened to stories.  It's heartbreaking that this place stands empty, surrounded by sandbags, concrete barriers, burned trees, and silence.Tragedy can occur when you decide that the rules don't apply to you.

Stop and....

We get so busy that we often fail to stop and be in awe of the wonders around us....a beautiful sunset, the intricacy of a flower, shadows on the mountains, clouds blowing across the sky, or amazing animals.  Most people who live here, buzz right on by, but I am compelled to stop and watch these magnificent creatures.  This herd of big horn sheep is often elusive, so I am delighted when I get to see them.  I hope I never lose my wonder and just buzz on by.

S*** Happens

I really don't like vulgar language, but today, the expression fit the circumstances....literally.
We've been getting some morning lows below zero and unknown to us was that our sewer line that services the older part of the lodge had frozen.  So, when our guests upstairs were running water or flushing, it all backed up in the down stairs bathroom tubs and toilets.  This was our third crisis of the day, after a toilet valve blew and we had a geyser in another bathroom, and our neighbor's well pump went out and Jim had to rig up hosing from our property to her tanks so her guests would have water.
Earlier in the week, I was wondering why we didn't have any reservations for our down stairs rooms. Now I know!
It's the end of the day, our neighbor's guests have water, the toilet valve has been replaced and all the water mopped up in our bathroom, the sewer line is thawed and has a space heater keeping it warm, the guest bathrooms have been thoroughly scrubbed down with disinfectants, and we are exhausted.
Oh, almost forgot about the disaster in the basement laundry room awaiting my attention.  A pipe from a toilet busted and rained water all over.  That awaits attention another day with a complete bleaching of floors, sanitizing rugs and re-washing the bin of clean laundry that was at the door waiting to come up, tearing out water logged insulation and assessing what all has to be replaced.
As Forrest Gump said, it (meaning s***) happens.  I'm going to go have some chocolate.

Frozen

Zella and I went out exploring one day last week.  We headed over to check out the three reservoirs that make up Greer lakes.  They were frozen over and Zella and I walked on water...frozen water.  I wondered how thick the ice was and when we got to another of the lakes, came across blocks of ice 10 inches thick extracted for ice fishing.  At our last stop, we came across this very nicely constructed snowman, but it appeared he had come upon hard times. We gave him a new prosthetic arm, facial reconstruction and hair replacement.  It was just the right thing to do.

Mission Impossible

As a recovering people-pleaser there are times I have to remind myself that it is an impossible mission.  That's a hard reality in the hospitality industry and in all of life.  Over this past year of running a lodge, I have worked hard to create an atmosphere that people will enjoy, decor that is enjoyable to the eyes, cleanliness that is critical to me as a former nurse, breakfasts delightful to taste and get people off to a great start of their day.  The coffee center is stocked and the pot is going early in the morning with that wonderful aroma.  The fireplace is set for a crackling fire.
Not everyone will have a good experience or desire to come back and it is hard for me to let that go. I wonder what I could have done better or differently.  There's no harm in evaluation, but then it's time to move forward instead of feeling personal failure.
This morning my guests came out of their suite and the gas fireplace had shut off during the night and it was quite chilly.  The thermostat was not operative so I took off the bottom vent to access the wiring and jump started the circuit as Jim had shown me in the event this happened.  I apologized profusely for the malfunction of the unit, but I felt like a dark cloud was going to remain no matter what else went right and that they will never come back.
This morning I had to renew my mind with the truth that my mission is not to please all people, which is impossible.  My mission is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, which is possible or He would not have given it to us.  That must be my focus and all else will flow from that.  I won't please everyone, but I don't need to, just the One.

Surprises

Some friends who stayed with us at the lodge asked what our biggest surprise was over our first year of owning and operating the lodge.  Not sure about the biggest, but here is a list:

• the propane bill, especially in the winter
• the number of people who ring our doorbell and assume they are at the right place because their gps said "you have arrived"
• the number of people who call us looking for another lodge 
• how long it takes to get any repair or construction done up here
• people who want a "cheap" place in Greer
• how many elk Jim has encountered hiking, how many elk or deer have been in our yard, and how much they poop
• the puppy Lyn brought home and now is Jim's exercise buddy
• how fast our first year went

So far in this new year the biggest surprises are how much it is snowing, icicles up to 4 feet long, and how much fun our dog has playing in the snow.