Starting out in the Restaurant

Well today was very exciting with a great turnout from the community to attend an open house this afternoon and a food sampling this evening from chef Andrew.  Andy made some very nice dish samplings tonight that everyone enjoyed.  But to make that possible, Louis Falzerano came through for us big time by fixing the gas leaks in the kitchen that the Pyrofax guys couldn't find.  It was something to watch him find these things with just simple equipment that the three other guys couldn't find in 3 hours.

Dusk at GHL

I took quite a few pictures and I'll just caption them to give a sense of what else we did.

Cooper and Reagan testing out the new bridge that Shannen and I built on Friday.  The bridge is at the bottom of the upper tailings where Trapper Trail comes in.

 A look at the underpinnings of 16 foot 8x8 pressure treated beams.

This is the site of a bridge that we removed on Cougar Run as it heads down toward Balm of Gilead.  This bridge will be replaced on Monday.  Then we'll have one more to go.

Same spot at a different angle.

 A shot of Jay DeJesus getting inventory organized in the Ski Shop in the afternoon

What the Ski Shop looks like right now.

 Flowers on the table ready for visitors on a beautiful afternoon.

The porch dining room decked out with new curtains made by Mindy's Mom that look awesome.  Along with the new table cloths and napkins and table decorations made by Mary Irene that are beautiful.

 The main dining room with the tables ready for place settings.

Elvis was in the house courtesy of the Widlunds

And finally, a photo of our new friends John and Sheri who stopped by to say hello at the open house.
Our friend Marilyn took a lot of pics throughout the afternoon and evening activities and I'll post those tomorrow.

Back on Track

Things are coming along pretty well.  Today we're getting ready to have people come up and visit on Saturday afternoon and evening.  Mindy has been busy getting the dining room ready for that.  That's all I have photos for tonight.  Even though I took my camera out with me while I worked with Shannen to replace a bridge down at the bottom of the tailings, I forgot to take any.  So I'll have to take pics of the finished product tomorrow.  Same with the PistenBully that got trucked away today.  But the restaurant changes are apparent here

 From the front door

 The flowers my sister Laura sent me

 The side of the dining room towards the porch

The corner near the pub

Next week we'll be getting the table cloths, curtains, dishes and flatware in place and by then I hope to have Mindy on here talking all about it.

Meanwhile, this weekend we'll slow down just a bit to enjoy ourselves.  This evening we had a great time at Judy Brown's mixer for the the Chamber of Commerce.  Mindy's boys Blake and Andrew are staying over at the Lodge tonight with their friend Jordan.

 Jordan and Andrew by the fireplace

Blake on the computer checking his fb page

More tomorrow

Blindsided

The day was going along pretty well for a while.  Lots of people were there moving tables back into the dining room after the carpet was cleaned, painting kitchen shelves, insulating windows upstairs, putting up Christmas decorations, cutting firewood, working in the ski shop etc.  I wasn't even too rattled by the news that the well pump down at the ski shop needs replacement as that news was accompanied and balanced by the sound of the PistenBullys roaring to life after being jump started down at the maintenance shed.  Shortly thereafter they were driven up 4H road to the parking area where they can be picked up by Mohawk Limited from out in Utica.
And lunch was delicious with Heidi Plumley making chicken salad and accompanying sandwiches with her pickled beans.
It was a little while after lunch  while trying to put the finishing touches on the gargantuan task of applying for a license to sell people a drink that the lights went out along with everything else.  Of course the first reaction is to look for a reason why a breaker would have tripped, but it soon became apparent that it was more than a breaker.  The power was out for the whole log house.  So out the door and down to the Ski Shop to see if that was affected.  Sure enough, the Tea House, where the carpets were being cleaned, was also out, and so was the Ski Shop.  Then I remembered talking to a crew of National Grid guys earlier by the woodshed who were lost and couldn't find the Big Shanty.  So I went down to talk to them to see if anything happened there.  The power to the lodge comes up from there.  But no, they didn't know anything.  They just do maintenance.  They put in a new pole and moved the wires up to it, but no, they didn't see or hear or do anything to affect the power.  And no, they couldn't look into it any further.  That's because they're contractors and they don't really even work for National Grid.
But I knew it was them.  I went down to Farm House Rd and stopped at a house where someone was home, Harold I think it was, and he had power, but he had heard a big bang and his power flashed off and then on again, right by the transformer before the wires go up to the Shanty.  So I went back and told the contractors that, but know it couldn't have been them.  It must have been an act of God the guy said.  But they wouldn't/couldn't do anything so we called NYMO and waited and waited 'till 4:30 they fixed it.  I went down to Farmhouse Rd and asked them what it was and they said this crew does this all the time.  They crossed the wires.  They just wished they would call and tell them so they wouldn't have to waste their time hunting thru the woods looking for down wires.
So with all that the day turned out pretty crappy.