Night time in the Mountains

Iron Mountain Inn front porch welcomes YOU!

A friend invited me to go to a movie today. I don’t know the last time I’ve been to a movie … at least 8 months I’d say if not more.

So tomorrow night for the Oscars, I won’t have any idea of the other movies and stars, but I do know Silver Lining Playbook was very well done! Didn’t know who the actress was until just a couple of days ago, but now I know! She was excellent! I’m sure she will have a long career ahead of her…and she is so young!

Having two friends who are bi-polar, the movie really hit home! One has told me how important hard physical activity is to staying on an even keel along with “light” medication. The other should get more hard physical activity but the meds keep this person so quiet it’s hard to get up the energy needed to work out/walk out/dance out!

Then later tonight about 8:30 p.m. we had major fireworks set off from the top of the mountain. Magnificent and the echo rolling around the mountains.. oooooo!

As long as there has been rain to dampen the forest we do fireworks fore proposals, weddings, anniversaries and any other reason, or for no reason at all here at the Iron Mountain Inn. Having them legal means special occasions can be made even more special with the excitement of fireworks.

Mid-night Musings at 3:00 a.m.

When you wake up in the middle of the night and your mind keeps racing around with all the thoughts stacked in there, it means no going back to sleep.  So, instead of worrying about it, I just get up and do something constructive.  

I look at the piles of papers on my floor waiting to be filed..nah, don’t want to do that.  I look at the piles of papers scattered 10 deep all over my desk waiting to have something done with them such as input data from the papers into the computer, answer those Christmas letters, read the manual for the new camera, mail some pop rocks to my granddaughter…you know, all the things which it would be nice to have a Katie Gibbs secretary do for me!  When I get it all done…then I”ll have that feeling of accomplishment, but right now…just looking at it drags me down.

Filing!  The bane of my existence!  And yet, when I get it done, I love seeing the clean floor, the neat desk, the feeling accomplishment!  But I keep putting it off!  Sort of like cleaning bathrooms…thinking about it I manage to find other things which I need to do, but then when I get to the job it goes very quickly, isn’t difficult and how nice and sparkly the sink, toilet, tub and floor look when I’m done!  Again, a good feeling!  And it didn’t take that long so why do I keep putting it off?  Who knows?

Like exercise…hard to get started, but once I get going, “I’m loving it” as the McDonald’s commercial says.  I love walking down my driveway listening to the birds, looking around to see what Mother Nature is up to at each season of the year.  Right now, in late February in the mountains of NE Tennessee, some of the daffodils are already up 7″!  Spring can’t be far behind, but still have to get through March!

But…it’s the thought of hiking back up the driveway which often keeps me from taking the walk.  After all, I do live on top of a mountain so when I walk down I know I’ll have to climb back up!  But again, once I do it…what a great feeling of accomplishment!

I admire the dedication of those athletes without a coach have the discipline to do the work. they need to get to the top of their event. The people who need physical therapy and do it on their own for months at a time. They all know the importance of consistency, dedication and will and they “get ‘er done”.  Hats off to all of them!

March Musical Events Happening Near the Iron Mountain Inn

On March 2, the International Tenors will be performing at Heritage Hall in nearby Mountain City. An incredible show coupled with a multimedia video.  The tenors perform on stage with a big screen showing scenes and footage of Italy, Spain and France.  The audience will almost believe they are sitting in a little café watching a great show in the Piazza. 

For the weekend performance of the International Tenors, special last minute rates start at only $119.00 per night and include tickets to the show. 

Or, if you prefer band music, coming up on Tuesday March 19^th at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, TN/VA will be a performance by the USAF Rhythm and Blues Jazz Band. Call right away as this performance is sure to sell out.

With mid-week discount rates starting at only $98.00 per night on a 2 night stay,(regular rates are $155.00-$195.00) full breakfast each morning and the bottomless cookie jar, this March 19^th getaway is a real special for anyone who likes jazz and blues. 

These are one night only shows so call and book a room at the Iron Mountain Inn B&B in Butler, TN. At the same time let us know how many tickets for one or both shows we can order for you.

Keep checking back as we will be listing other events both musical and theatrical taking place within the Tri-Cities region throughout the year.

Slow Internet service

I thought I had high speed internet with Dish/Exede…I do…but it seems Facebook uses up a LOT of bandwidth and so each time I look at it, it uses up some of my time!  Now I’m down to almost dial up speed until the 21st of the month.  

I can, however, purchase an extra 1GB for $9.99 – which I did last week, but it didn’t last long.  So now I can have my nice high speed and watch videos between midnight and 5 AM…obviously no one is using the net at that time of day so I’m home free.  I may not be getting much sleep if I want to watch cat videos and pictures of birds catching fish with bread.

Time to get off here…it’s not after midnight!

Anxious for warmer weather

Been busy today, but wanted to post so as not to miss one day of 365!

Guests coming and going, beds to stripped and made, breakfasts to be planned, the life of an innkeeper on changeover day!  But I don’t ever want to be doing anything else!  This is the occupation – I can’t call it a job since I enjoy it so much – I should have been doing for years prior to today.

But now I’ve been an innkeeper for 15 years come May 15th and I plan to continue as long as my health holds out and my slew of helpers hold out!  Couldn’t run it without Carolyn, Val, Jack and many many good friends.

But the day has come to an end, need a good night’s sleep before another day tomorrow.

Week is over, thank heavens

The week started out ok – Sunday was a beautiful day with 70+ degree weather, took a great walk in the woods and at the end watched Downton Abbey which is great fun.

Monday took my cat to the vet since she had a tooth sticking out of her mouth where it shouldn’t be.  And she needed her shots.  Had to leave her as she also had an infection in her gums…guess she’s too much a “person” and hadn’t brushed her teeth.

Then ran errands in the pouring rain.  In fact, it rained all day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until Thursday afternoon when it started to snow!  I’m glad I live on top of the mountain as the flooding was bad. I had to go to the other entrance to my road.In the afternoon I went to pick up my cat and heard from one of the other people that Harry Rotenberger was missing.  I checked the name…turns out it is the husband of a good friend.  Harry has alzheimers and has a tendency to wander around in the mountains.  He’s done it before and they found him far from home.

I called to find out what was happening and although volunteers, the police in 3 states (the forest behind Harry’s house adjoins VA and NC, helicopters and search and rescue dogs had been out since Sunday afternoon, it was impossible due to the heavy rain.

Friends have been with Harry’s wife, lots of food and coffee, but Harry has not been found.  It is now a week later and we have had 4 days of rain, cold weather and up to 6″ of snow so the chances of him still being alive are remote, to say the least.  But for the family, it’s the imagining what could have happened and not have finality.  This happens to other families and people, not people I know personally!

That was the week in the outside world, but the week in my world….my printer broke, my hot spot doesn’t work, some guests arrived very late and then informed they had a dog.  They had neglected to tell me they were bringing one because if they had, I would have informed them they are not allowed in the INN.

We do have the Chalet and the Lake House where dogs are welcome AND if one family reserves the entire Inn AND they promise the dog will sleep in only one room in the Inn AND they pay an extra cleaning fee. then a dog is allowed at the Inn.

Although I was expecting guests at the Chalet, they weren’t due until Sunday night so I offered the Chalet at an extra fee for the dog which they agreed to.

Then on Saturday, when I was running errands, another set of guests arrived to find no water!  I got hold of my plumber who came to the Inn and found a burst pipe at the well – water spewing all over and it had frozen the insulation.  He fixed the pipe, but we still had no water in the house. 

One set of guests agreed to go down to the Chalet (it has 3 bedrooms) since they really wanted to take a shower in the morning and felt they really wanted to have a toilet in the night.  When they got there, there was no one else there.  Humm

The other couple stayed at the Inn and we melted ice cubes from the ice maker to get water which she then used to wash her face.  And we melted some snow to pour into the toilets.  It wasn’t until about 11 pm that I happened to think….I have 3 50 gallon hot water heaters..that’s Lots of water!  So today I’ve been hauling water from the basement to the kitchen to wash the dishes (not all of them), flush toilets and I did buy some bottled water to drink and for coffee and tea.

Repeated calls to the man who put in the well have gone unanswered.  The plumber said he will be here tomorrow (Monday) at 8: am to put out the pump and see how big it is and what we need.  He has a small one at his store, or someone will have to run and get a larger one.  I’m sure going to enjoy that shower when I get water back.  Perfume and sponge bathing is not the same.

So this is my blog for day 20 of the 365 day blog and so far…so good.

Rainy Day Thoughts

It’s been raining buckets for the past 48 hours and Harry still has not been found.  The nights have not been cold, but standing outside under the car port for about 10 minutes, and I wanted to go back inside to get warm.  What can have happened to Harry? Not knowing is the hardest part. Will we ever know?

We are a loosely knit mountain community spread out over a wide area of mountains. But word spread quickly. Everyone in the county is asking…have they found Harry?  How long do we hope?  How do you stop your thoughts as to what happened to him? You read about  things like this happening, but it’s always to someone you don’t know.  Now, it’s someone I do know – the husband of a friend.

Donna is surrounded by friends who have brought food, some laughter, lots of hugs, some tears and red eyes,  and one friend lent a little Pappillon dog to keep her company at night. Darcy was a wonderful gift.  No one has given up hope.  However, the volunteers who have been out on 4 wheelers and on foot were talking about canceling the search at dark tonight. I wish someone had a horse to search with as well……The search and rescue dogs and helicopters were here, but it’s been too wet for the dogs to get a scent.

And all the time the rain has never let up!  In fact it seems to be coming down harder as I write.

The flooding has closed roads and made the search so difficult for the volunteers from three states. And someone has been taking down the cones marking unsafe roads. Idiot people!

I was lucky to have an alternate route to my house as the picture shows the other road early this morning – it was blocked off when I returned this evening.

As I sit cozy and warm I wonder and worry….Harry…where are you?

Writer’s Block…awww no writer ever has one of those….

From a website HARO which has some very interesting ideas reporters are working on.

Are you having trouble putting words down on paper? Checkout
these five tips from PR Daily about how to get a little
inspiration when you have a case of writer’s block.
http://bit.ly/VFKEzP

Now to put them to use.

Friends

Just learned a friend has been missing since yesterday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. here in the mountains.  He is frail and 80 years old so naturally everyone is concerned.  Volunteer fire departments, friends, police and helicopters have been looking for him in a grid.  Although it hasn’t been that cold last night or tonight, hopes are not high for finding him safe.  At first daylight, volunteers will be out looking as will I.  Just wish I’d known sooner.

 

Food and salt

Popcorn!  For some reason this evening watching the preliminary red carpet show for the Golden Globes (I;ll probably never get around to seeing the movies and I sure haven’t seen many of the tv shows since I’m too busy writing blogs!  LOL) I got an urge for popcorn!  

Air popped corn has practically no calories and when I put seasoned cajun salt on it, oh my!  Taste buds just POPPED!  Had to have another couple of handfuls.  Which is another reason I like the microwave – fast  popcorn!

It did fill me up, but still felt I should probably eat something else for dinner so I popped a frozen Gen Tsao’s meal in the microwave.  Before I did I read the label.  OMG the sodium content looked like the Great Salt Desert.  Not too many calories tho.

Been trying to eat on a somewhat regular basis so I don’t nibble all those goodies I have in the house (I have mentioned that before, haven’t I?)  And trying to eat when I’m just a little hungry…so far it seems to be working but tomorrow morning on the scale is the truth!

Went out on my 2 mile trail yesterday!  Need to take a chain saw out to cut out a large tree which has fallen across the path and then some smaller ones.  One group of branches looked like pictures of the briers across Cinderella’s castle before the prince cuts through. A little spooky.

Noticed today when I went hiking that the surveyors had marked the edge of my property with the boundary lines of the Cherokee National Forest.  I’d had some of the lines done myself a couple of years ago and the surveyor told me to wait as the Forest Service was going to have him do their line which abuts mine.  That saved me some money!

Enough ramblings for tonight…off to watch Downton Abbey.