July 7, 2024
Nancy has been searching for an instrument to learn to play. She sat at the Music Store and talked to Shay about the banjo and the fiddle. She has dabbled with the mountain dulcimer and the hammered dulcimer. Nothing is really exciting her. During her younger days she played piano. She attended a one day class on the mountain dulcimer and enjoyed it and learned a lot. Still not doing it for her. Later this week is the Ozark Roots Dulcimer Festival. They are having 3 day classes on the mountain dulcimer and the hammered dulcimer. The hammered dulcimer class is being held at the Meeting Place. The class is full but since Chris owns the Meeting Place and talked to the instructor, Nancy has a spot in the class.
The down side is that she is starting to feel bad. Head cold, sinus stuff and coughing. I’m starting to feel a head cold coming on also. Thanks Carissa.
July 6, 2024
Very sad day. The family is heading back to Colorado. After breakfast hugs and tears were exchanged. The week has flown by. But it was very good time. Carissa was feeling much better. Nancy and I stayed away from her for the most part during her illness. Time will tell, was it good enough?
July 5, 2024
Grandma had another adventure planned for today. Kayaking on the White River. Carissa was still not feeling well and I was just flat exhausted. So we did not go but Brian, Grandma and the kids had a great time. Maybe before we leave, I’ll kayak the river. I enjoyed it when we were in SD two years ago. They all came back tired and hungry. I hate that I missed the opportunity but I needed the rest.
July 4, 2024
The day started with Carissa being ill. She will not be joining us for breakfast or today’s activities. We did fix a plate for her and Georgeann took it out to her. Today’s activities start with a parade at 10:00 AM. Brian took the kids over to watch the parade. Nancy and I stayed to clean dishes and clean rooms that were being vacated. Business must go on. The kids had a good time and they had a chance to see a lot of small town things in parades that you usually don’t see in larger more urban parades. They returned from the parade in time for lunch a little down time.
We have reservations at 3:00 PM to tour Blanchard Springs Cavern. It is a one hour walking tour totaling .5 mile. Nice and easy walk in 580 F. Felt great. The cavern was really interesting. We all had a great time. We entered the cavern at one point and took an elevator ride down about 300 feet. At the end of the tour we exited to the outside and a bus picked us up and took us back to the visitors center. After getting off the bus you had to walk across a special cleaning mat to clean any bat guano off your shoes.
Back to the house we went so we could eat dinner. After dinner we went to the Music Box Ice Cream Shop for some cold sweet treats. While we were eating our ice cream we walked over to the Picking Park and found some seats at one of the gazebos. There a group of people had gathered to jam and were playing. We sat and listened and enjoyed our ice cream.
It was almost dark now. Time to find a spot to watch the fireworks. We found a spot that gave us a decent view. As it was getting late, the kids were very tired and the noise from the fireworks was starting to get to them. They made it through the entire show. Definitely time to go home.
July 3, 2024
Brian only works half a day today. So the plan is for me to take him to a couple of music places around town. Our first stop is Mountain View Music Store. It is a cool little shop where they not only repair and sell instruments, they also make fiddles and guitars from scratch. The main items for sale are fiddles, banjos, mandolins, acoustic guitars, and cigar box guitars. They have a variety of musical accessories as well. Emmeline was the only one that wanted to go with us so she had the chance to see various parts of a fiddle and guitar as they were being made. She thought that was cool.
I guess it is time for me to come clean and tell the truth. Back in March we visited the Music Store for the first time. I had decided that Mountain View was an ideal place for me to learn how to play guitar. So back in March I bought a guitar and got set up with weekly lessons from Albee Tellone. He is a great musician and teacher. It turns out he is from NJ and we had a lot of common ground. He was a roadie for Springsteen and played sax on one of Springsteen’s albums. So yes, I am slowly learning to play acoustic guitar., It is relaxing and enjoyable. Maybe one day I’ll post a video. Maybe.
After the Music Store we took a short drive to the Dulcimer Shop. Brian found this place very interesting also. The dulcimer is not an instrument you hear much about but the sound is very unique. In the right hands, it is beautiful. There are two basic types of dulcimers, mountain dulcimer and hammered dulcimer. Additionally they sell autoharps (Mother Mable Carter), and lap harps, bowed psaltery, recorder, dulci-banjo spoons and harmonicas. Yes, spoons and harmonicas are common around here. This is the folk music capital!
I had the chance to bake with the grandchildren this afternoon. I had made sugar cookie dough earlier in the day and divided it into 4 equal parts. I had purchased some patriotic cookie cutters and colored sugars. So one by one the grands would come in, and we would roll out the dough and they choose the designs. Each of them knew that they would have to give up one cookie for the guests at the Inn. We got the cookies baked and after they cooled they each chose the guest cookie and the rest of their batch got bagged up with their name. It was a fun and productive afternoon. And of course we dined in style on the pulled pork that I smoked yesterday. Everyone enjoyed it.
July 2, 2024
Today was going to be another hot day. I had started smoking a 10 pound pork shoulder early this morning for dinner tomorrow evening. This means I will be sticking around all day and night to ensure nothing goes wrong. After breakfast the three youngest grands wanted to play the hammer dulcimer. So I went into the parlor with them so they could play. Afterwards, I went and washed dishes and Carissa and Grandma and the children were off to the Ozark Folk Center State Park after. It is a very neat place. You stroll through a village and each shop is home to some type of artisan with their wares for sale. There is also a covered stage area and the norm is music is usually being played. They all had a wonderful time and got to see a lot of neat things being made. Not only is it fun but educational.
This evening we took the family to the Possum Club (the Meeting Place) for a free show. The group was 5 South. The lead is Kailee, who is a fiddle Grand Champion and the rest of the band is mostly her siblings who are also great musicians. Kailee works in the Music Store and her and her husband are in the ASL class. It was a very nice show. We had to leave a little early because we had 4 hungry and tired children. We walked across the street to Mi Pueblito for dinner.
July 1, 2024
I am not a big water person but Nancy is and the rest of the family. So she took the grandchildren and Carissa to Blanchard Springs to the local swimming area. We purchased some inexpensive float rings and they had a blast. The swimming area also has some rock ledges you can climb and dive off into the water. Emmeline and Grandma were the only two that didn’t try the rock ledge. But they all had a great time. Brian had to work. Brian plays guitar and he brought his acoustic guitar with him. He would sit out in the evening when the kids were in bed and just relax and play his guitar. He loved it.
June 30, 2024
Hooray!! The day has finally arrived when Carissa, our daughter, and her family will pull into town for the week. It was around 4:00PM when they finally arrived. We had not seen them since last July when we left Colorado to head home. So great to see them and get the hugs from the grands! We ordered Pizza Hut and sat and talked for a while util it was time for bed. Grandma has a lot planned for their visit. I also have a couple of things I want to share with them as well. However, we still have to run the Inn. So tomorrow morning I will be fixing breakfast for not only our family but for 4 guests as well. Unfortunately Brian still has to work. We set up a little office space in the Oak Room. It is a tiny room we use for singles or as a back up. It is not on the web to reserve. It has good WiFi and will be perfect for him.
June 29, 2024
Tonight is the Songwriters Roundup at the Mountain View Meeting Place. It was well worth the $15 per ticket price. Two of the songwriters, Joe Allen and David Lynn Jones, have written chart songs for the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, and Loretta Lynn to name a few. It was great to hear them relate the stories as to how they came up with the songs. In addition to these two, we heard Pam Stetser, Kevin “Tuck” Tuckfield. The neatest part was listening to Tim Crouch. He is not a songwriter but he is the number one guy for studio work in Nashville. He is so talented. It was fun to listen to the banter on stage. I believe all of these folks hail from Arkansas. These folks were also very humble and down to earth. Had the chance to speak to a lot of them during the intermission as they made their way through the audience. Tuck and his wife stayed at the Ozark Country Inn so we had a chance to talk more after they ate breakfast and before they had to leave. Nice folks.
June 28, 2024
As we are approaching July Fourth we decided we needed to decorate the Inn. We spent a few hours and this is what it looks like.
June 27, 2024
It has been decided that our daughter, Carissa, and her entire family will come to visit with us over the Fourth of July week. Excellent news. Our first plan was for us to leave here the end of June and head west for Cheyenne Mountain again. That plan did not pan out so this is Plan B. We have been talking to some locals to find out the best place(s) to swim, and other kid friendly activity. Today we are going to explore Blanchard Springs. They have a couple of areas where people swim. One of them is awesome with a small rock cliff for diving.
June 22, 2024
Sine the ER visit, we have been using ear wax drops to help get rid of an ear wax buildup. I still feel ok but not quite right yet. Actually was feeling very good until around 9:00 PM I had just had my shower andI was sitting in my recliner watching TV and then it hit me like a freight train. I was so dizzy I could not stand up. I was very nauseous and eventually it gave way to vomitting. Too dizzy to make it to the bathroom. Had a towel but it didn't help a lot. I wound up back in the shower. I slept in the recliner and Kayla came over to help with breakfast. I just supervised. Within a couple of days I was back to normal. But, oh what a night!
June 18, 2024
Unusual day today. The last couple of days I have had bouts of lightheadedness and dizziness. I’ve had them in the past but they soon disappeared. This has been going on since Sunday and this afternoon it was bad. Nancy drove me to the local hospital and I got to see the Stone County Hospital ER. They ran several tests, urine, blood, 12 lead ECG, CT Scan. All tests said I was healthy as a horse. I was given a 1,000ml bag of sodium chloride. After all of this I was diagnosed with vertigo. I was prescribed a prednisone dose pack and a motion sickness pill. As I walked out of the hospital I felt several times better than when i had gone in. This too shall pass.
June 16, 2024
Happy Father's Day! After work today we are going to go to the Skillet Restaurant for lunch buffet. The Skillet Restaurant is located in Ozark State Park. It is very scenic and the food was billed as Southern Comfort food. As I have been doing a lot of cooking lately and as it is a buffet, I was not overly impressed with the food. It was okay but not stellar. A lot of people rave about several restaurants in the area but I am not that impressed. I guess I’m just a food snob. When it comes to BBQ, I’d rather do it myself and not eat anywhere that offers it.
June 15, 2024
Happy 68th Birthday to my wife. We have guests to feed and rooms to tend to today but after that we are heading north to Mountain Home. Why? Easy to answer. B, double E, double R, U, N; Beerrun! ;) We are currently in Stone County. It is one of several dry counties in Arkansas. Baxter County north (Mountain Home) and Van Buren County (Clinton) to our west are wet counties. Either direction is about an hour away. However, you may purchase alcohol there. Occasionally our guests are unaware of this situation and just want a cold beer after driving all day. We have been able to provide them with such at no cost. No big deal except I was running low on beer. So we had to take a trip to restock. We opted for a late lunch at Arby’s in Mountain Home. It was the worst experience ever at an Arby’s. It was so bad, Nancy called corporate to complain. The food was decent but the customer service was terrible.
We got back in time to go to the Meeting Place for the show. Tonight was Kim Robins. She actually lives in Nashville, IN. Being from IN we knew a lot about her home town. The band was good. The music was mostly bluegrass and “old” country. A couple of the band members are staying at our B&B. They are very nice guys.
June 14, 2024
We had a couple check in for just tonight but the unusual thing is that they have 4 baby raccoons with them. They had recently cut down a tree on their property and once the tree was down, Momma Raccoon fled and left her 3 male and 1 female babies behind. These kind souls have taken care of raccoons before and then released them back into the wild. That is the plan for these four as well. I have to admit they are kind of cute.
June 12, 2024
We got up in the morning and finished moving all of our items out of the cottage and into our RV. While Nancy worked on flipping the cottage to get it ready for our guests, I started unpacking things and putting things away. We had to find the important items like towels, soap, sheets, etc. Starting tonight we are home again. Over the next few days there will be items to move back into the RV from the garage and put our lighted flag up, etc. But for now, we are good. Having lived in the toy hauler for 6 weeks has given us a new appreciation for our RV.
June 11, 2024
Today is the day we go to Conway and pick up our RV. We have a 10:45AM appointment at Discount Tire to have our tires rotated and balanced. The other service work was done last week. We arrived a little early for our appointment but they got us right in and we were out the door in no time. Just so happened that across the street from Discount Tire was a car wash. The truck needed a bath desperately, so it finally got one. Another one of our planned stops is also close by, Sam’s Club. We had a small list and as we were walking around we found some food that would be nice to have but we did not have a cooler so we checked out what they had. We did not want to spend the money as coolers have gotten expensive. They did have an isolated bag, similar to the one we have. So we opted to get the bag and buy a few groceries. A test run if you will for possible future grocery runs. It’s lunch time. We were in the neighborhood of a Chick-Fil-A so it was time for a chicken sandwich and a peach milkshake. Yum ! Yum ! We called Moix’s RV to let them know we would pick up our RV in about an hour. After lunch we went to a Kroger grocery store. We were hoping that this store would have Boar’s Head deli meats. We were in luck. They did. Finally after 4 months we got some good meat and American cheese. Yes, I am a food snob. I can’t help it. We picked up some good food and found our way to Moix. The sad part is that they did not have any pork roll, a.k.a. Taylor ham. They had our RV sitting and waiting for us. I went inside and paid the bill. Hoses are not covered by our extended warranty.
Before we could hitch up, I had to adjust our Demco hitch. I had to open the jaws a little when we hitched the Cyclone. Now I had to close them back. This took maybe 10 minutes. Just as I had imagined, the batteries were dead. I forgot to disconnect when we dropped it off. Fortunately one of the workers brought a jump box out and we were able to get it raised enough to hitch up. And off we went to go back home.
We arrived back in Mountain View around 4:30PM. As we are setting up again I decided to get Snap Pads for our hydraulic jacks. The literally snap onto the feet and give a sturdy base for the RV to set better. Once they were installed we unhitched and leveled up. We then hooked up our electricity and our water and our sewer lines. Then it was time to turn on the AC and try and cool off the rather warm RV. It felt so good to have it back.
Because the cottage is rented out for tomorrow and the next 2 nights, we opted to start moving things out of the cottage this evening. We had just about everything out in about 2 1/2 hours. We spent the night in the cottage.
June 10, 2024
I rolled out of bed this morning around 9:30AM. So great to be in a large space again. After breakfast we had a couple of items to address before we could return the RV to Chris’s. We cleaned the bedroom AC filter. It was really bad. Then we replaced the seal on the toilet. The old one allowed water to leak through. I had told Chris a few weeks ago about it and he ordered the seal. I installed it today and all is good. We then blew off the slides with the assistance of a blower and a nozzle extension kit. No ladders. We got it all closed up and disconnected all the water and sewer lines and then the electric line. We then took the RV back to where we found it at Chris’s. Getting in and out of here is no easy feat and then to back it into his RV spot is also challenging. At least we got it done without any incidents. Afterwards we fueled the truck for our trip to Conway tomorrow. While we are there, I have an appointment to have the tires rotated and balanced with Discount Tire. Then we are going to head to Sam’s and then locate a grocery store, at least we hope, that has Boar’s Head meats. I so miss my luncheon meats.
June 9, 2024
The day has finally arrived. This morning we served 15 guests. Chris actually allowed us to block out the entire Inn for 3 days to allow enough time to clean and for us to move. We had a full house and a full cottage over the weekend. Some were here to attend a John Prine Tribute concert. The rest was a family that was in Mountain View to celebrate the life of Grandpa. He was a retired firefighter and loved the Mountain View area. They had lived here for a while also. It was a great group. Although unusual, I fed the family members in the cottage as well. That is why the number is so high. We got everyone checked out, all the dishes done, and the rooms stripped by noon. After a short rest break, it was time to attack the RV. By 4:30PM we had moved everything out of the RV and into the cottage. We had been up since 6:00AM so it was a very long day. No alarm clock tomorrow morning. We are also very thankful for Door Dash. We have a free one year subscription either through Amazon Prime or T-Mobile. Can’t remember which one. But I love it.