Yummy Stuff

I must confess that I haven't done much baking since my girls got old enough to take over.  They both love creating delicious things to eat.  They loved to bake treats for friends having birthdays or just try something that looked good on the internet.  After they both left home, Jim and I were having protein shakes for breakfast and I wasn't baking much of anything.
Now that we provide breakfast for our guests, I am really loving the internet.  One of the standard breakfast buffet items is homemade granola.  I wanted a yummy fall offering, so found one called Pumpkin Maple Pecan Granola, and it lives up to its name.  I had a bunch of leftover bananas and some applesauce I bought for a conference group breakfast and with a click on google, made a batch of delicious banana oatmeal walnut muffins using applesauce.  I'm whipping up egg casseroles and creations and having a fun time of it.  It's a joy to have guests ooh and aah over the buffet offered and then enjoy eating and talking with other guests or Jim and me.  We will be on Trip Advisor and Airbnb soon, which is exciting to get us out there for people to find.  We may have a busy winter with all the snow predicted with people coming to ski, sled and play in the snow or just enjoy the snow from inside with a warm cup of tea or cocoa and a nice fire.

Bed AND BREAKFAST kickoff!

It's official!  We will begin serving breakfast for our guests beginning the weekend of October 17.
It's taken much longer than anticipated to renovate the kitchen and work on a new website, but as our neighbors in Greer tell us, "Get used to mountain time."  We will be serving a hearty homemade breakfast, so come on up and stay with us!

Poop Day

Don't know what the birds have gotten into, but we had an explosion of poop all over the patio railings and porches.  Murphy's oil soap to the rescue.  Wiped and mopped up bird poop and spider poop.  And since I was in the poop business I cleaned up all the dog poop in Zella's yard.  Some days are just poopy.

On the Roof

One of the many projects on my to-do list at the lodge is sanding down and staining the weathered wood.  This week I got up on the roof and spent two days sanding the wood on the second floor and one day staining and washing windows, since I was already up there.  Day two it got pretty windy and when I decided I needed a break to use the facilities, get a snack and fluids, I discovered my ladder had blown over. Jim was in the office downstairs on the opposite side of where I was working and the wind just carried my voice away.  I tried calling the dog...no response.  I wondered if I could jump down on the lawn without breaking anything and decided not to try.
When you are stuck on a roof you think about a lot of things....will my bladder hold out?...should I put Poise pads on my shopping list for roof work?...I wonder if we have to pee in heaven or maybe we just can go any place we want to, like my puppy or maybe it just won't matter...maybe I need to put a message on Jim's phone to check on his wife hourly when she's on the roof...wow, what a great view up here...I should come up here more often...great clouds...the tops of the trees are beginning to change color... The Lord had mercy on me, my bladder held out, and I went back to work until Jim came out and noticed the ladder down.
The next roof outing I took up a bucket with a bottle of iced water and my cell phone.  This time, I could call Jim and if all else failed I had a bucket.

2015 Greer Boat Races

An overcast day, the rain held back for the Great Greer Boat Races.  A nice crowd of residents and visitors gathered to watch the heats go down the river, cheering when the winners were announced. Michael had his hot dog cart fired up and they tasted great.  It was a festive atmosphere and a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

Help...I'm Stuck!

Zella could smell the sweet fragrance of the strawberry protein shake and really wanted to lick every powdery remnant in the empty canister.  But what can squeeze in didn't want to come off.  Jim and I were laughing hysterically as Zella began to panic, running around bumping into things.  I grabbed her and Jim tried to work the container off her head to no avail.  After retrieving some cutters from the toolbox, I held her as still as I could while Jim cut the container open to get her head out.  She's growing so fast...this pic was 2 months ago...today, at her 4 month appt. she weighed in at 40 pounds. No chance of getting her head stuck now...at least in this size container!

Showers Bring Flowers

The rain has been abundant this summer, bringing bright spots of color all over the meadows.  Even the weeds have beautiful flowers, which is a nice thing since there are so many of them.  This bright, purple thistle makes me smile, remembering childhood stories of Winnie the Pooh and friends.  Even downcast Eeyore brightened at the sight of thistles.  The variety of plants and flowers, all unique, shouts to the glory of our great God, creator of everything.