Connections

The connections we encounter at the lodge are really amazing.  We had a family who came to play reindeer games we were hosting during Winter Wonderland.  "Grandma" grew up in the neighboring rival town I grew up in, her husband had worked for the mine my father had, and she was attending the church I attended.  We even frequented the same restaurant and agreed they had the BEST Mexican food!
Last week one of our guests mentioned he had attended West Point and after I queried what years he had been there, I wondered if by some remote chance he knew a friend of ours who had also been there during those years.  Turns out they were classmates!
Friends and colleagues, places lived or traveled, interests and faith in common make, not just great conversation over breakfast, but a connectivity in this big world.

Reindeer Season is Over!

Jim and I donned deer attire for 4 Saturdays prior to Christmas and hosted reindeer games on our back lawn.  This was not for the faint of heart.  While the elves, Santa and Mrs. Claus were warm and toasty at the community center and other business owners were hosting activities inside, Jim and I braved the elements along with a few brave elves who were in charge of the hayride.  While the community center logged over a thousand visitors, we had about 100 who came to let the kids run around, try ringing the antlers, put the nose on Rudolph, play ladder ball and corn hole, and pet our delighted labrador, Zella.  Parents played with the kids or sat by the fire pit to stay warm.  One Saturday, we had several inches of snow on the ground and the high was 22 degrees.  That day, we kept the fire stoked for parents while kids played in the snow.  We gave out reindeer stickers, temporary tattoos and finger lights.  And a good time was had by all.

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.