The sun is shining and the pool looks really good! I have been hearing a lot on TV and reading in magazine articles about the questionability of cleanliness in hotel rooms these days. I was kind of amused to find out that the things I do are considered not normally done. Case in point - there's a lot of talk about TV remotes and their not being cleaned. The reason I find this amusing is that I do clean both the TV remote and the DVD player remote every time I clean a cottage. I use one of those cleaning/disinfecting wipes. I also clean the light switches, door knobs and locks. In other words, everything you'd touch that doesn't get changed after each guest. Funny, I thought that was normal cleaning procedures. The other thing I read about was the glass in the bathroom. We used to use the disposable cups, but that isn't really eco-friendly - much too much waste. So I changed to glass ones and please, rest assured, that they are changed when I clean and run through the dishwasher.

Just thought you'd like to know :)

May 7, 2008

Goodness but time sure flies! Spring has arrived and we have been busy getting things ready for the summer. We are reworking our big sign, painting decks, touching up trim, fixing, repairing, and generally working to make things great for our guests.

We have made a couple of minor changes to our methods. In an ever expanding desire to conserve resources, we are now swapping linens a day later than we used to (towels every 3rd day and sheets every 4th.) Naturally, it is not mandatory that you swap your linens at all, and we do appreciate guests who also try to travel green.

There's talk of another mother bear with 4 cubs this year. We haven't seen them yet, but have told they have been hanging out around the transfer station. I kind of hope they stay over there :)

Since last year we have lost a one of our "staff" members. Sir Edmund Hillary is now in our memories. The rest of the crew are still here (and still, sometimes, pests.) I have had to hang my spider plant from the center of the ceiling in the office since the cats seem to think it is candy and that's the only place they can't reach.

I apologize for not updating the site in so long. It seems the older I get, the shorter the days are, or something like that. Anyway, I look forward to seeing you this summer or fall!

August 5, 2007

Well, I must say, this summer is certainly flying past. It's hard to believe it is August already. It's been very hot and humid here for the past couple of weeks. Not normal. But it managed to change yesterday, without benefit of thunderstorms, to a gorgeous low 80s and a delightful breeze.
Speaking of thunderstorms, we had a doozy a few weeks ago. The static discharge (no evidence of an actual lightning strike) was strong enough to blow out 3 DVD players and 2 televisions. I am grateful for the patience of our guests at the time, while we frantically ran around to stores to replace them.

Most of the plants we planted in the spring seem to be doing well. Some of them have more or less disappeared, so I guess I can count them out.

I have finally managed to update some of the pictures on our site. We made some changes to the Dryad cottage, added a small table and chairs to sit at, and hung this fantastic (and huge) painting of a tree behind the bed. Check it out! Our daughter, Mandy, painted it as part of an assignment for her scenic arts class. She graduated, Magna Cum Laude, this past May from Plymouth State University, with a degree in Theatre.

As I was checking out which pictures I had to change, I realized I still had a photo of Luke and Leia on our "staff" page. Luke has been gone for more than a year now. And we lost Slinky last week. That's why her picture is no longer there. I still have to take a new picture of Farfel so you can see how much thinner he is. I just have to wait for him to wake up :)

For those of you who were here last year and remember "Mom and the kids" (we had a mother bear with 4(!) cubs,) they came back, just once, earlier this spring. Shortly after that, she separated from them so they are now on their own. I think I've seen "Runt" crossing the road once or twice, but none of them have returned, except, perhaps, to the dumpster. Anyway, here's a picture of them this year -

I guess that's all the news for now. I'll try to catch up some more in the fall.

Linda

April 29, 2007

Yes, this is a new page! Sometimes first time visitors to our site want to know a little more about us and sometimes our returning guests want to know what's new and changed since their last visit. So, I thought I'd add this news page and try to update it at least once a month.

We are going GREEN! We have always been conscious of our impact on the environment. That's why we have recycling bins in each cottage, hang the sheets out on the line instead of using the dryer, and have fluorescent bulbs wherever possible. As of this year, we have changed our cleaning supplier and our new laundry and cottage cleaning products are eco-friendly and totally green! I have been trying to do this for a couple of years and was finally able to make contact with a company that offers the products I was looking for. Hurray!

At the end of last autumn we painted the bedrooms in Arethusa. I couldn't take the pink walls anymore and felt the green in the twin bedroom was just too dark. So, as you can see from the new photos, the double bedroom is a very, very pale green and the twin bedroom is bright yellow. I have new bed coverings, too, and will upload new pictures as soon as I get them on the beds.

The winter wasn't spectacular, but it was certainly better than the last couple of years. At least this year we had snow. We had 3 new winter seasonal renters this year and all seemed to enjoy themselves. If you ski a lot in this area (Cannon, Loon, and Bretton Woods) and are tired of driving back and forth with your gear all the time, give us a call and ask us about our winter seasonal rentals.

All our animals are still in decent shape. Farfel is getting older and more gray around the muzzle. He was on a diet and lost about 30 lbs! I should be so lucky! He sleeps a lot. Dog, the "kitten," is now larger than his mom (Orion) or dad (Toga) but it's mostly fur. Slinky, Leia, and the rest of the felines are doing well. I was tempted to add a few fish to our zoo, but I figured enough was enough.

The bears are awake but not prowling too much yet. I saw my first moose of the season a week ago. We were on 93 returning from Littleton and s/he (no antlers) was checking out the Elks' Club parking lot. We had blue jays here this winter. That's the first time. They've been down the hill in the village, but we hadn't seen them here before. Lots of woodpeckers this year, so far. The forsythia are starting to bloom, the daffodils and crocuses are up and we planted a whole bunch of new bushes and flowers for this summer. We also planted a few trees, but it will be a while before we see much more than a stick.

That's pretty much all the news for now. We are working hard on cleaning carpets and getting the 5 large cottages ready for the season. Then we'll start on the little ones as they don't open till the end of May.

If any of you have comments you'd like to post here, for the time being, I would ask that you email them to me (link at the bottom of the page) and I'll post them. I'm not real big on "blogs" and I am working with an old website design software so it doesn't have the code to do visitor posting. I have a new program but I don't have the time right now to learn how to use it. sigh. So, if you want to add comments here, just put blog or comments or something in the subject line of your email. I won't use names, but I will use your state if you provide that info.

Have a wonderful spring and we hope to see you soon!

Linda & Gene