Weather Out the Window

The weather is always of interest.  We want to know what's predicted so we can plan what we wear, what we pack for a trip, what we are going to do outside, whether we are even going to venture outside.  Will we need an umbrella, a sun shade or snow boots?  Do we need to water plants or cover them up?  Is it the season to rub in how nice the weather is to our distant family and friends?
We watch the news to catch the weather, we check our weather apps and websites.  The "weather" person is now a meteorologist with information from thermometers, barometers, anemometers, doppler radar and weather satellites to give us a forecast.  Yet, with all their tools, their forecast so often goes out the window, so to speak.  
Our forecast in Greer has been quite out the window of late.  The "Big" snowstorm turns out to be a bust, while we really weren't expecting much snow today, but it started falling mid morning and hasn't stopped yet.  We've been shoveling throughout the day to clear paths for guests and sweeping entryways to keep down the amount of snow brought in on boots.  Tomorrow we may be shoveling cars out so they can get home.
While I still watch the forecast, check an app or website, what I find most helpful and accurate is to look out the window and see what's really going on.

Haberstock Herald 2015

Many years ago I began composing a letter to send to all our friends and family entitled "Haberstock Herald".  Here it is for 2015.

Haberstock Herald 2015

It's been a year for new things:

v  a new business and learning to use our smart phones, instagram, building a website http://whitemountainlodgebnb.com ,writing a blog http://greerazgazette.blogspot.com and posting to our business facebook page https://www.facebook.com/whitemountainlodge/

v  a new location - from Phoenix to Greer, desert to mountains, a white Christmas

v  a new church - from Scottsdale Bible with thousands in attendance to Calvary Chapel in Springerville with less than half a percent of that attendance, but with big and beautiful hearts for the Lord

v  new friends - from fellow business owners to the small population of full time residents in Greer

v  a new puppy - Lyn brought home an 8 week old Labrador puppy from Safeway...definitely not on the list...she has become our entertainment and fitness trainer and we truly enjoy her

v  new careers - while Jim still works for Honeywell remotely, Lyn is busy keeping a lodge clean and ready for guests, fixing breakfast, managing reservations and accounts and publicity, painting, staining.....Jim is landscaper, snow blower/shoveler, repairer and helper in his spare time

The Girls:

v  Kara and husband, Nate, are in Tucson.  Kara is a research specialist at U of A working with GIS mapping software which is definitely out of our skill set.  Kara just had surgery to remove melanoma from her arm.  Please pray it never comes back.  Nate is doing research this year as an interim between years 2 and 3 of medical school.  He wants to eradicate Crohn's Disease.  Go Nate!

v  Lauren is in her final year at Pepperdine University.  She spent the summer with us in Greer and worked hard at a little cafe.  Everyone loves Lauren...she did nicely in tips!  Plan A for next step is working in a school system in Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship. Awaiting selection results.

The Big Trip:

v  Lyn's mom, Nancy, turned 80 this year.  Instead of the traditional birthday gathering, Lyn and sister, Laura, planned a trip to New York.  It was a bucket list item with no checkmark.  One mom, 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters flew to NYC and they did it their way and had a blast!

We wish you all newness in your lives, especially the newness of life, peace and joy that only comes from our savior, Jesus the Christ.  

Yellow Snow and Feeling the Temperature

The weather outside is frightful, but the beautiful snow is delightful, so I sing let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.   But when the dog goes out it becomes....yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow.
Zella and I went out for a walk today after storehouses of snow dropped 7 inches.  The sun was shining and the air literally sparkled with snow dust being blown off trees.  Zella happily pounced in
drifts of snow and searched for buried treasure.  She looked like Zella Claus with a white beard.
 I had checked the weather site for Greer before we left and it said current temperature was 14 degrees but it felt like 2 degrees.  I'm sure there is a math formula to calculate the effect of the wind, but do they back up their data with experiment?  Just wondering if people have actually gone out in the buff and confirmed that the temperature really feels like 2 degrees instead of 14 when a little wind is blowing. Has anybody else ever wondered about this?  I'm not going to volunteer to provide proof of their claims, so I'm taking their word for it and layering up.

Glitter Glitter Everywhere

Saturday was our first Winter Wonderland in Greer.  The craft table was neatly organized.  The stars, sequins and glitter were all in their own containers.  All was ready and calm until the first group hopped off the hayride.
I gave instructions to the hovering parents and hoped we could keep things under control.  After the first group left, nothing was in order. The sequins were all mixed up with glitter.  One mother, instead of allowing her child to use one star at the top of the tree ornament, helped her decorate with half the plate of stars.  Paint brushes for dabbing glue on pine cones and felt ornaments were caked in glitter. Sparkles were everywhere.  That's when I decided to just keep calm and sparkle.
In a child's eyes there is never too much glitter, as one child pleaded that there was still room for more.  Glitter fell from there over-saturated creations as they explored the lodge and enjoyed treats and cider.
At the end of the day, Jim and I carefully gathered the plastic table cloth and funneled a container's worth of glitter into a bowl to be used for next Saturday.  Sparkles are inside and outside and I may still be finding them clinging to something next spring.  That's ok....I like sparkles and they will remind me of the wonderful time the kids had showering their ornaments with glitter.

Thankfulness

It's been just over a year that Jim and I purchased the White Mountain Lodge in Greer and put our Phoenix home on the market.  It's been a year of major transitions for us and we are so thankful for so many things: good friends and supportive family who prayed with and for us, new friends in Greer, a new church home in Springerville, a kitchen remodel that enables us to serve a wonderful breakfast to our guests, hard work and a lab puppy that keeps us fit, Jim being able to work remotely with Honeywell, and the incredible beauty of this part of Arizona.
Every day is truly a day of thanksgiving, regardless of our circumstances!  There are trying times of something breaking down at an inopportune time, a never ending to-do list, Jim got Shingles and the flu, we've had a few unpleasant guest experiences...yet in everything, even the trials, we are to give thanks because we know that they are working out patience, endurance and strength.
We spent two days in Tucson with family from far and near enjoying fabulous food and fellowship. Yesterday, the first day of Winter Wonderland in Greer, we had about 70 people come through the lodge to enjoy Christmas crafts, a warm fire and a buffet of treats and hot cider.  (Thank you Mom for sending me home with delicious home baked goodies to serve!)  Every child and most of the adults had to also go out back to meet Zella and be licked.  Our pup had a great day!
We are thankful to meet people from all over who we have the privilege to host at the lodge and we have enjoyed having our families come and see our new home.  It's very fun when we have friends we've made from our 26 years in Phoenix come and see our place and even better when they stay and we get to serve them.  It gives us great joy to have people enjoy the lodge and this beautiful little valley of Greer nestled in the pines.  For all this and so much more we are thankful.

Critter Tracks

 Last night I traveled back from Phoenix to our lodge in Greer and encountered snow from Payson on up.  The trip took a bit longer, with decreased visibility, snow on the road, and for a distance following a snow plow, though slow, was nice to have a guide.
In the morning, the back lawn at the lodge looked like their had been a bit of activity with lots of tracks.

This evening, Zella and I headed up to the East Fork Road for a walk.  It is amazing how she can sense animals long before I can.  She stopped dead in her tracks and was gazing across the road and then I was delighted by a large herd of elk. In the distance were gunshots, but these magnificent animals were busy pawing through the snow for food, seeming to know they were safe from hunters this close to civilization.  Zella parked in the snow, sat still, gazing at them, as did I, until I was getting too cold.  Within 30 minutes of getting back to the lodge, Zella growled and barked while we were in the office. Not even able to see, she knew something was outside.  We went to the back door and quietly stepped outside to see a herd of elk down in the meadow, not 10 feet from the back yard.  We kept an eye on each other for a few minutes and then Zella and I went in so they could continue to forage in peace.

Painting Pinecones

I've been collecting pine cones on walks with Zella.  Got them all cleaned up.  Put them all on an old sheet.  Spray painted them gold.  I have about 200 of them.  Hope it's enough!
Our little village is getting ready for Winter Wonderland.  At last night's planning meeting, I got to meet Mrs. Claus.  Santa was sick.  I also met some very nice elves.  Last year 400 children came to write letters, have pictures with Santa, listen to a story from Mrs. Claus and enjoy cookies and hot chocolate at our little community center.  Local business owners can open up their places for other activities for visitors and we will have the fun of participating this year.  We will be one of the stops on the hop-on-hop-off hayride.
Kids can decorate a pine cone with sequins and glitter to take home.  If I run out of pine cones, I have a back up plan for making snowflakes.  We'll also have a Christmas shop, featuring Becky Economides' works of art.  She crafts beautiful carousel horses and fashions adorable clay ornaments. She is designing a woodlands animal series for the Christmas shop.  Visitors can sample home baked Christmas goodies and have a hot cup of cider.
Shauna, at 92 Beans, our cute little coffee and ice cream shop, will have ornament making going on. Ryan and Amy, new managers for Greer Peaks will be decorating cookies with kids.  They have a great sledding hill if we have good snow!  Dolores has an adorable shop called the Grey Goose and will have some yummy treats available.
I am getting excited for lots of folks to come and experience a little Christmas wonder, but in the mean time, I've got to get busy, busy, busy, decorating and baking!