Saturday, January 28, 2012

Thanks again, weather forecasters!!!

Thanks once again, weather forecasters. You managed to scare people away with your forecast of high winds up to 45 mph. Didn't happen, yet again!!

It was a lovely day and the afternoon took a turn for the better with Erich, Dennis, AJ and Peter arriving to entertain our guests. Let's just say, the St. Andrews cross was used to it's best. Woo Hooo!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It's a Twister, Aunty Em!!! (Continued)!

Well, things calmed down and now we're back to normal. Well, as normal as Palm Springs ever is. Remember the Lone Ranger & Tonto riding to the rescue? Dennis & AJ arrived back at their home on Saturday only to find a huge tree had crashed down into their parking area!!!! Their car would've been CRUSHED. See what I mean about there being a gay god?

The roof from next door has been taken out of the tree and the debris is all gone. Kudos to Richard for getting it done so quickly. See, it pays to know people! It took Stuart and I 6 1/2 hours on Sunday to clean up. The pool and spa were like swamps, greenybrownysludgyswampy. You could almost imagine something primevil slithering out!!!! There were leaves from trees, sand from the desert and crap from everywhere else. Our pool man Augusto, bless his heart, called to see if we needed help. YES. So he and his son came by Sunday morning and within an hour everything was clean and sparkling. Nothing primevil in our waters!!!

Needless to say, the weather forecast was for more high winds and rain today. It didn't happen but I'm sure it was good for business at The Home Depot or Lowe's. They probably sold a record number of tarps!!!!! Thanks once again for the scare tactics weather people!!! Maybe you should start thinking about not scaring people away during the summer? Now there's a thought!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

It's a Twister, Aunty Em!!!

We've lived here for over 10 years and have never experienced winds like we had yesterday afternoon. The day started beautifully, some clouds peeping over the mountains, lovely warm sunshine, admiring the bodies on display and then .. Wham!!! Out of no-where Boom!
"That was a suprise", we thought!!!! Then suddenly we were running around quicker than an Italian Captain abandoning ship, making sure all the doors and windows were closed. Sand flying, crap being blown from god knows where, the wind changed from the north to blowing from the south sending up clouds of dust (honestly, I'd only washed down the day before!!!). The first thing we did was to drop the sun beds heads down (as you can see what I mean).
(You will notice the sun is shining through this). Then thing got worse so we turned the sun beds upside down to save them from being either totally blown away or at least from being blown into the pool. The pool, meantime, has surf on it to rival the best that the west coast could offer!!
Just at the right time, the Lone Ranger and Tonto arrived in the shape of Dennis and AJ! Saved!! (More later!!). We were all sitting there ooohing and aaahing at the palm trees bending like rubber. Please note, the clouds have arrived!!!
Then things got even worse but I suppose this is nothing compared to what other states and countries go through, but really, the place was begining to look like a bloody war zone which was exacerbated by the emergency helicopter trying ( and I mean, trying), to land on the hospital helipad. Very, v e r y s l o w l y decending. We expected to hear a bang but, they made it!!!!
Suddenly, there was an almight crash and half of the roof of the hotel next door flew off, some went bouncing into our parking lot narrowly missing our car but hitting DJ and Al's. Most of it ended up lodged in the trees as you can see. You have to look to see it. I've always wanted a tree house. I tell you, we have never been so gratefull as we are to have those trees there even though they've been blocking our mountain view for years. See, there is a gay god!!!!!!
More to follow.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

MLK weekend

Monday is Martin Luther King day and our thoughts always go back to that day, 4.31am 1994 when the Northridge earthquake hit us in North Hollywood. For those who havn't experienced a major earthquake, you don't want to. It really is frightening. We survived. Obviously!!!!!

January has started off really well and we have a full hotel this weekend although you wouldn't know it by the number of cars outside! At least 2 of our guests don't have cars so it seems we have 2 rooms empty. We don't!!! Not the greatest weather but the pool is warm, the spa is hot and the steam room is, well, steaming if you get my drift!!!!!!

Looking forward to the year ahead but not looking forward to doing the taxes, yet again. What a crazy system here in the US.
Jim, if you read this, the aloes are starting to sprout their flower spikes and should be in full bloom when you arrive!!! Aloes AND pomegranate martinis! Yee Haaah

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

New Year's Eve

Because we're a couple of boring old farts these days, we were in bed by our usual time ie shortly after 10pm!! We opened a bottle of bubbly at 4pm to toast the New Year in London, we watched the ball drop in New York at 9pm and had a toast for the east coast and that was about it. I hope everybody watched the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade New Years Day? What glorious weather we had for that and are still having!!! Our guests had all made their own arrangements for the evening so you can guess; we didn't see anybody early Monday!

Our usual bevy of lovely guests from all over the place. I was sorry to have missed John and Bill from Fresno. We didn't have our annual Apple Tini this year. Visitors in from California (of course), some regulars, some new. Houston TX, Stanwood WA, Kimberling City MO, Austin TX, NANCY(!) KY, New York NY, Goodyear AZ,Pheonix AZ, Washington DC and how about Bourbonnais, IL not forgetting our friends from Winnipeg, Canada. Wow, the New Year is off to a good start.

We had a visit from Tony and John down from their high desert estate and Gino, Dennis, AJ, Peter and Erich dropped by. We love you all. Looking forward to February and March, our two busiest months and welcoming Jim back to his 2nd home! I'll have the Pom Tini waiting!!!!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Happy New Year

I know, I know, it's been a while and I have been berated from all angles for not keeping up!
December is always a quiet time of year following Gay Pride, Leather Pride and Thanksgiving. That makes it a perfect time to get away, usually Stuart and I get away for at least a night or two, either Vegas, Riverside (!) or we were contemplating LA but decided I needed to go to England and spend the first Christmas for 20 years with my family. I flew out December 17th and arrived back December 29th, just in time for the New Year celebrations!

Whilst I was in England I went with my mum and sister to a fox-hunt meet which is always very colourful. Although it is llegal to hunt and kill foxes, the posh folks on their horses still love to go clattering around the countryside. They now have eagles which are supposed to flush out the rabbits and wildlife for the hounds to tear to pieces and if a fox gets in the way, oh well, too bad!!!

The village where the meet took place is called Stilton and is where Stilton cheese was first sold in the village pub called the Bell
The story goes that the landlady of the Bell was the sister of the manufacturer of Stilton Cheese and sold it in the pub. The pub was an old coaching inn and a regular stop to change horses. The cheese was (and still is) made in a small town called Melton Mowbray, also famous for it's Pork Pies!!! Yes, how interesting I hear you say!