I know!! Just like a London bus!!!

This blog is just like a London bus ... you wait and wait and then three turn up at the same time. We are suffering -  :( a forecast of 39f tonight with a high of 59 tomorrow!! Poor, poor us. LOL. We've had to put the outdoors heaters on. The steam room is getting used as is the spa, 114 and 102 respectively.  Who says California doesn't have seasons???

Weather lovely, wish you were here

Or another way ... Weather here, wish you were lovely!

Enjoying a typical December here in Palm Springs, suffering lows at night of 8c 44f. The pool is always  84f the spa 102f. What's not to love? Steam room set at 114f.

We are full tonight and tomorrow, return visitors from Hawaii, UK, Illinois, Phoenix AZ various places in CA, San Francisco, Glendale, Pacific Palisades. Of course at least 2 rooms without cars making us look not full.

It was madness at World Gym today .. I arrived around 10.30 this morning, took a tour of the parking lot and came home. Ridiculous. I went back just after 12 noon. Perfect! It will be worse next week with all the New Years Resolutionistas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

A very quiet Christmas this year here at Chaps Inn. Things start picking up for the New Year tomorrow, Dec 26th (Boxing day to Brits, Canadians and Australians). Bill is with us from Fresno, CA and we are expecting a lot of regulars to celebrate New Year. Stuart and I will probably be in bed before midnight! Sad, isn't it????

I still havn't taken picture of the decking. We had to have the skimmer replaced because someone shoved a spike down into the skimmer causing a big hole $200 thank you very much. The decking people paid for it to be replaced but not accepting responsibility!

We are getting ready to visit Peter Fiske and friends at Peters home for Christmas dinner. Serving at 4pm so we'll be there bearing gifts of wine, cookies and bread and butter pudding!!!! Looking forward to it.

End of the World party is cancelled!!

Sorry to say the End of the World party (which we have been looking forward to for years) has been cancelled. It is so tight with the decking being finished we thought it wise to cancel.

WE ARE STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS 12/20/2012

If any of you want to drop by tomorrow for a glass or two please do, you'll be more than welcome. You can help us put the place back together! Actually that should all be done by 5.00pm today.

I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blog but when dealing with contractors make sure you know exactly what they mean when they tell you  the job will take 48 hours (or whatever). Don't automatically assume the job will be completed in 2 days ... it could be 6 x 8 hours days or 12 x 4 hour days Get the picture? LOL

Incidentally, the decking is looking spectacular. I'll be ready with whip in hand for the first person to drag a sun bed and scrape our new surface!!!

Thanks to all those who sent us Christmas cards. They'll all be displayed in the office. We havn't sent any this year. Nothing unusual about that!

I have set up a Twitter account for Chaps so you will be able to follow us on Twitter @chapsinfo but you know me ... if it's anything like the blog ..... there's nothing on it yet!!

 

.The picture above is of the Camillia situated between numbers 2 & 3. It's called "Yuletide". How appropriate!.

 

 

I'm B a c k!

I did say I was going to be away for a while and I was! A quick visit to Jolly olde England to see the family and visit some very old friends. What a trip ... a real roller coaster ride.

I discovered I went to school with a murderer and rapist, a one Paul Taylor whom I used to share a desk with in maths and history. He's one of the reasons I didn't do too well in maths .. too much of a diversion!!!! I always wondered what happened to him and now I know. It took 33 years to track him down after the murder and you can bet he thought he'd got away with it. Now I know what happened to him and where he is: incarcerated for the next 18+ years!!! At least 3 additional rapes and serioucharges of sexual assult and more women likely to step forward. Boy oh boy and him from a (I thought) respectable family! You never know. He should've stayed gay!!!!! Maybe that's the problem!

Things have been happening here - the place is a mess as I knew it would be. The pool and spa are empty, the major work on the decking is finished.

Glad to be back. Looking forward to our 'End of the Year Party' Dec 20th providing we are in a good enough shape to host.

Computer Failure!!!

Our computer crashed. Hard drive gone and with it all our pictures, my Ina Garden recipe index not to mention 2,500 names and addresses of our guests!! itunes I know is recoverable. Thank goodness I backed up Quickbooks last week so there shouldn't be too much to re-input if that's a word!! We do have this second computer outside for guests to use coming in a bit handy now.

Lovely guests again.  My goodness, 50% full tonight on a Wednesday at the end of November. Unfortunately we say goodbye to Kevin from Australia tomorrow who has been with us for 28 nights. Frank from Toronto leaves us leaves us on Friday after 15 nights. How time flies. We had to say goodbye to Tom from Carmichael, CA  today after 5 nights and not to mention the Muellers from Sacramento ...and, of course, David from West Vancouver.

The weather here today was a dream ..... 82f, 28c. Perfect. Clear skies not a breath of wind. Gorgeous.

I am flying to England to see the aged parents on Sunday Dec. 2nd getting back here Friday Dec 14th. in time for Christmas and our EWP (end of the world party) Dec 20th 2.00pm. Don't expect too much on the blog before then! Whilst I am away the decking is being re-surfaced yet again for the 4th time in 12 years  ....  and room 10 is being remodeled. You'll  have to wait and see but it does include a new sink/wetbar and a paint job!! Once again .. it's a good thing we're billionaires!!!!

And now it's Thanksgiving (again!).

It's been a strange week between Leather Pride and Thanksgiving. I developed a cough and felt sick for a few day's then Stuart developed an ear infection. Then he had an alergic reaction to something or other. I had to drive to LA Monday morning still feeling groggy and leaving Stuart behind also feeling under the weather to cope with an 80% full hotel for a few days. Anyway, I'm back now and Stuart went to the Eisenhower Urgent Care Facility this afternoon and after a nap is feeling MUCH better. All ready for Thanksgiving

We're not full (yet). Thanksgiving is a strange holiday for us. Sometimes we're full, other times not. Looks like this year is one of those 'other times'!! but still only 3 rooms to go. We live in hope and expectation!!

We met with our dear friends Jennifer and Dianna for brunch on Sunday. We hadn't seen them for 3 years but it was just like yesterday. We wanted to take them to Escena but they arrived at 1pm instead of 12 (they HAD to stop off at the outlet mall). By the time we got there the place was mobbed. As soon as we saw the number of cars parked on the street, we knew it was a waste of time. Anyhow, we went to good old Billy Reeds and had a great time. Those girls were our close neighbours when we lived in North Hollywood and we love them!!

We had posted a note on the gate to say we would be home by 2pm. We were (just) and there were about 12 people waiting for us. A part from Dennis, AJ and Peter, we had Sarge, Don and Lou, Scott, Mike and John and others! I was quite the afternoon with lots of goings on, especially around the spa area with Scott entertaining one of our guests if you know what I mean, ahem!!!! LOL. Mike made a comment that the spa might look like egg drop soup!!! It didn't!!!

So, Thanksgiving is going to be just Stuart and myself this year. Just as well considering Stuart is still not feeling well. We're having Duck! Not your traditional Thanksgiving meal but there again, we're not Americans!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Don't eat too much Ha Ha!!!

Soorry!!!!!!

3 weeks! 3 weeks! How can it be 3 weeks since my last posting? Time flies as they say. Full, full, full over the Leather Pride weekend. Stuart and I went to the contest ... arrived after all the hoopla of waving the flag and all that hand on heart stuff and we left before the contest began. We were given an award again this year, same as last year but with 2013 on it! At least we didn't have to go on stage to collect it. They delivered it to the front gate together with our t-shirts and other stuff!! For those of you who don't know, the Barracks lost it's liquor license but they were open for the Leather Sunday beer bust but only selling soft drinks and water!!! Wow! I nearly forgot ... Mr. Tool Shed won the contest. The Tool Shed is going to have to expand thanks to The Barracks demise!!!

It really is a family gathering party weekend with most of our regular visitors. Unfortunately the 2 Bobs from Renton WA wern't able to be with us. Bob K caught whooping cough so we're glad they decided to stay away. They'll be back in April and have booked already for 2013 Leather Pride. Most people booked for both Gay and Leather Prides before they went home. We've only got 2 rooms available for Gay Pride and the same for Leather Pride. Book early to ensure disappointment!!!!
LOL!

Happy Pride!!!!!

Well, here we are, another Pride weekend coming up as we sail into the silly season which will continue until Thanksgiving.!! Packed to the rafters - I knew we should've built that second floor. (Maybe not!).

All decked out for the weekend which starts Thursday with the arrival of Chris from Vancouver (welcome back). We are also looking forward to seeing all our regular Gay Pride visitors - Don & Jeff from San Diego, Rodger, Jack, Gary and Al from San Francisco, Kevin from Australia, Pete and Chris from England not to mention Alfredo from Italy!!!! Most are staying through Leather Pride Weekend. Mmmmm  I think there is room for a couple of more flags!!!

Tomorrow (October 31st), is our 12th anniversary of moving to Palm Springs! Nobody is more suprised than we are. Who knew we'd still be around after so long. A certain owner of another gay hotel gave us six months ("they don't know anything about running an hotel" he said). Well guess what? He's gone and we're still here!!! I suppose we might have learnt something over the years. Whooo Hoooo. Good for us and a big thank you for everybody who has helped us through

We survived!!!

It was a really lovely weekend with the S &  S group. I don't know how they do it. Friday (Saturday morning 6.am) and Saturday (Sunday morning 6.am) they were still up not been to bed yet .... boy ... they've got stamina which I had in my 20's ..... a long time ago.

Great to see you S &; S. Same time next year. I think we'll open the doors so you can all experience the S & S weekend. LOL!!!!

PS Is it really only 72 hours since Tracy, Chris & Pete from Salt Lake City, Scott from PA and Mike and Tony from Bournemouth UK left? Seems like a year.

The S & S weekend

I don't know how many of you know but, once a year we welcome  a group from San Diego. The S & S is for Suzi & Sara who organise the whole thing. We are full to overflowing for 3 nights this weekend god bless 'em. Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Bi and everything in between!! (The tweenies).

They are a fun group and actually a lot more interesting than some of our all male groups.It is the only weekend Stuart and I don't mix with the guests ... not because they don't want us, but they are a group of friends and we feel as if are interlopers!!! That's OK. We left them to their own devices and went to lunch at the Dickie O'Neals Irish pub here in Palm Springs for fish and chips. Give me Escena anytime. By the way, what they serve as 'chips' are not chips. They're French Fries!!! Not the same!!

Here's the menu for the weekend! You're welcome! The last thing on the list? - Fisting of course!

I assume Paddling isn't walking around in the shallow end?

Bee Beep!!!

We had a visit from a Road Runner a couple of days ago. Poor thing. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture but they are the most peculiar birds strutting around; a bit like a small chicken with less meat!

I say 'poor thing' because he was obviously distressed and disoriented. Mainly because we used to see him in the desert opposite which is now a parking lot and he doesn't know where he is anymore. He walked around the entire patio, panting with tongue hanging out. Stuart tried to give him water but eventually he found his way out. Jumped onto the fence and off he went. Who knows where he is now.

There is a Road Runner who is a regular on the patio of the Escena Bar & Grill. They call him Arthur for better reasons known only to them!!!!!

Can you imagine ....... it's the last day of September

Today, at 11am, the temperature (in the shade) was 106f  (41c)!! One of the hottest days of the year. And it's almost October and we are in autumn. After I turned on the misters, the temperature dropped to below 100f within 15 minutes. Whew! (Phew?).

Anyhow, we had a great afternoon,. Trip and Bud from Atlanta are with us, leaving tomorrow. Mike from Slidell LA has just bought a house in the north of PS, but is with us for a few more days. Dennis, AJ, Peter and Tim dropped by. Tim brought a platter of salamis, cheeses and crackers!! Nobody was in the mood for a flogging.

Mike and John joined in the festivities as did Mark and Eric. Quite the partay!! Red wine flowed. Not that we are beer drinkers but ... Budwieser and clamato juice combo. I don't thimk so!!!!

Catching up!!!!

I know .... I KNOW!!!!! It's been a while.

Lovely weather, gorgeous guests especially the two German men from Dusseldorf who last stayed with us 7 years ago .. shame on you! They drove to San Francisco yesterday for Folsom festivities. They will be in great demand.

Jim and Terry are here. We went to Whitewater for a picnic on Monday, 7 of us. Me, Stuart, Dennis, AJ, Jim & Terry and Tim (friend of D & AJ). We had a wander (can hardly call it a hike) and gaped at the ranger as he strolled by showing off his incredible chest in his tight uniform shirt !!! Oh dear, what we do for entertainment these days now that we are getting on.

Greg is here from New Mexico looking for an apartment so he can move here. Another one! 

Nothing much else ... Tony dropped by yesterday from the outer regions for a visit; Yucca that is.

A quiet weekend but that's OK.

We have decided to bite the bullet and have the decking done, again. Third time since we've been here. They will start early December just as I am leaving for England. When I get back, it'll all be done. Funny how that happened. This time it's a reputable company who will give us a 10 year guarantee unlike the other fly by nights. It's a good job we're secret millionaires!

Oh, and Danny has built me a quiet enclave where I can go when the going gets tough (girls weekend, body modification weekend, both in October). Me, a box of red wine, my I-Pod and my hammock. What else could I wish for!!! Shaded by a lemon tree!! Heaven.

Weather is gorgeous.

Wow, the weather is perfect, mid 90's and looking great for the weekend. Once again, return visitors and some newbies. Visitors from Fort Lauderdale, Mike from New York is still with us (thank goodness!!!), but mainly from CA.

We are looking forward to seeing our friends Jim and Terry from San Francisco arriving next week. We saw them at Dore Alley (inside Twin Peaks actually for early cocktails) and also for cocktails at Dick K's apartment. Lovely!

Labor Day Weekend

This is turning into a lively weekend, every room taken and mostly by return visitors. Welcome back to Joe, Al and Ginger. Our friend Joe is visiting from North Carolina with his friend Randy. Welcome back to Chip from North Hollywood, Dick K from San Francisco who puts us all to shame!!!!!!!!!
Of course, Mike from New York (2nd time this year), not least the delightful 'Booes' in again from Phoenix, Steve and entourage from Granada Hills, CA. Welcome welcome, one and all. Not to forget our new visitors; from Carlsbad, Oakland and Fort Lauderdale. Here's hoping you will all become return visitors.

Weather is beautiful now after our latest monsoon last Thursday. Thunder, lightening and more rain than our gutters could cope with.

Labor Day is supposed to mark the end of summer and the begining of the Palm Springs 'season'. Here's hoping and looking forward to being busy.

Oh, and of course, busy weekend, nearly 100 degrees and one of our air conditioners stopped working. Typical. Saturday call-out charge and now we have to buy a new unit. It wouldn't be one of the wall units oh no, one of our three roof units. Good job we're secret millionaires!!!!!!!!!!

Dore Alley 2012

We had a great time at Dore Alley this year. Much better than standing in a booth all day being blasted by loud music and being looked at as if we were on display at the zoo!!!

We arrived there with Erich around 11.30am before it became too crowded and we were able to walk around without too much jostling. Lots of strange sights and some really good one's.  We bumped into our friend Dick K who had entertained us in his beautiful apartment the day before together with Jim and Terry who we met (again) Saturday morning for cocktails in the Twin Peaks. Saturday morning, Dore Alley weekend around 11.00 is becoming a regular habit!!! We were very sorry to see one of our favorite restaurants, Blue, had closed it's doors. No more Mac & Cheese supreme. Shame!!!

The weather was beautiful. I had to take our leather jackets back to the hotel because it was so warm. I got sunburnt on my forehead and shoulders which is quite a feat in San Francisco. It started to get busy and I stuck it out until 3.30 when I decided enough is enough. Good weather +Dore Alley = lots of naked and half naked men wandering around. We found the best place to stand and watch is right at the junction of Dore and Folsom outside Powerhouse. Great location for people watching. We also bumped into our (sometime) guest from Kansas City, Dean D. Altogether, a great and enjoyable weekend. Back to Palm Springs tomorrow, setting off around 7.30am.

San Francisco and Dore Alley

And so we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge around 12 noon. Too early to check in to our hotel but we parked the car and went for lunch at Niemans.  Golden Gate shrouded in mist as you can see.

Vacation (continued)

Monday, July 23rd. We spent a lovely day driving up to The Sea Ranch. A beautiful if  nerve wracking experience for driver and passenger. Our friends Erich and Doug have bought a plot (actually a bluff) right on the edge of the Pacific. Here are a couple of photos we took. No building there yet but it will be spectacular.

 For those who don't know, Highway 1 clings on to the coast and twists and turns with precipitous drops at every turn. I think 25 miles took us 2 hours to complete. Well worth the trip and we are looking forward to visiting again when the house is built and the sticks have gone!!!

 Lunch at the sea Ranch Lodge was well worth the visit and so we headed home to Guernville.

Well, we WERE in Guenville a while back!

Here we are back in Palm Springs and I am so sorry to our regular readers for being so tardy in not posting regularly. No reason apart from  Guernville was difficult to get a clear wireless connection and even  San Francisco wasn't that easy using my Kindle Fire. Problems with connecting to the SM something or other ....

However, here we are, back safe and sound and will try to give you a potted history of our trip without being too boring. First of all, a big thank you for Dennis, AJ and Patrick for looking after the place while we were away for 11 nights.

We set off on Thursday, July 19th and arrived back July 30th. First stop .... Harris Ranch, Coalinga, CA for the first night. The best steak I ever had not to mention the Oysters Rockerfeller. Cost a fortune but hey, we're on vacation!!!! Opening the balconey doors first thing in the morning and taking in the aroma of the countryside and cowsh!! was a joy. AAhhhhh I love the smell of the country.

Set off heading for Guernville Friday morning 8.30ish..... through the vineyards of wine country and those who have been there know how beautiful it is. Sorry, no photos, I'm not the greatest picture taker. I'm getting in front of myself forgetting the interminable miles of nothing and our greatest pastime of counting tomato trucks!

Mapquest had us all over the map! Heading north circumventing San Francisco, went through Stockton stopping off at the local Target because Stuart forgot to pack his jeans .... missed a really important turning and hours later found ourselves in Napa for lunch! Not a bad place to find ourselves in for lunch. It could've been worse ..... Stockton heaven forfend!!! On and on we went giving our full confidence to Mapquest. It would have been a lot easier if we had bothered to consult a MAP before we left. We eventually arrived in Guernville around 4pm after a unexpected side bar to Santa Rosa where we followed the Guernville  Road which one would assume leads to Guernville? WRONG. Anyhow, we needed to fill up the tank and take a pee.

Up the hill to the hotel and believe me it isn't called The Highlands for nothing! Three times a day up and down that hill will give anyone thighs, buttocks and breath coming in short pants. The only time we used the car to go into town was that first night to load up with groceries and neccesities (gin, wine, tonic), and that is when we met the unsmiling staff of the (very expensive) Safeways market. It was bedlam. One tip .. don't go to Guernville Safeways on a Friday early evening you will be eaten alive!!!!!

More to follow ..........

Well ! Here we are!!! Guernville CA-after all we said about not coming back

This is all I could write whilst we were in Guernville .. not the best of connections!!

Summer Holiday!!

I was suddenly reminded of a song from the 60's .... Sir Cliff Richard, Summer Holiday (it's a movie AND a song)

We're all going on a summer holiday,
No more working for a week or two.
Sun and laughter on a summer holiday,
Will make your dreans come true! For a week or two!

OK, Its not Irving Berlin

Not complaining .... it is H O T!!! 98 degrees at 6.30pm

And then .... 2 days later ...... humid, humid, humid. Not to worry. Spectacular lightening in the mountains last night. Spots of rain today just to spite me after doing my usual wash down this morning. Rain in the desert is not pretty .... I needn't have bothered getting the car cleaned. Moan, moan!!!!

This weekend is the final hurrah for the season for us. Full, full, full. I can't say why or what event is happening but we are one of the local 'overflow' hotels!!!!! (Strict instructions!).

We are getting ready for our vacation leaving here Thursday 19th . Dennis AJ and Patrick move in on Wednesday. We drive north Thursday morning spending the night at Harris Ranch then continuing up to Guernville Friday morning.  Dore alley 29th!!!!!! Woooh hooh!

July 4th, 2012

Whoever thought of putting July 4th on a Wednesday needs shooting with a musket!! Anyway, what started off as mediocre reservations turned into  'not too bad', ending up 80% full last night with some people staying over the weekend and new arrivals today! Hoorah!!!!!! Most people staying are from California but we also have visitors from Vancouver, New York and Salt Lake City. The cross was put to good use!

We had our usual great view of the Palm Springs fireworks display from the balconey except this year we had the least number of people up there with us!!! Anyway, we oooohed and aaaahed as usual. Great show Palm Springs!!!!!

Trees get a trim

It's that time of year when the palm trees get their annual haircut. Here are the 'before' and 'after' pictures. Our nephew Nat used to call palm trees 'hairy trees' when he was about 4 or 5 visiting us in North Hollywood. Now he's 18 and all grown up doing dangerous things on skateboards or scooters! In fact he is featured in Scoot Nation Magazine, scoot-nation.com. Who knew???? Anyway, there he is, page 82,  Nat Barber. We are SOOO proud!!!!!!

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday. Mike and John dropped by as did Dennis, AJ and Peter. AJ back from his visit to New Orleans to visit family and give his niece away at her wedding. Peter back fresh from his visit to HM Queen Elizabeth. Welcome home both of you. We are looking forward to our little getaway towards the end of July. Guernville for 7 nights, San Francisco for 3 nights taking in Dore Alley as participants, no booth this year (or ever again). There are always things and places we love to visit when in San Francisco. We have told so many of our guests from SF that we will be in Twin Peaks at 11am Saturday morning for cocktails. We know for definate that Jim and Terry will be there, as will  Dick K.
Two bloody Mary's and then on to Blue for their famous Mac and  Blue Cheese, hop on a street car and head towards the Embarcadero for a mooch around the farmers market. Dinner Friday night at the Indian Garden resaturant on Folsom ... yum, can't wait!!!!! Not to mention the sights at Dore on Sunday!!!!!

        

"Bollocks"

I'm sure more than a few of you are familiar with the term 'bollocks' as in 'that's a load of old bollocks' meaning (more or less translated) that's a load of old rubbish. Not a very nice thing to say (bollocks=balls). Maybe some of you might even be familiar with the Sex-Pistols 'Never Mind the Bollocks'.

However, if one were to say 'thats the dogs bollocks',  that's a compliment as in the 'Queen was the dogs bollocks'!

There is a point to this!!!!! See picture .. someone gave me this dog, complete with bollocks for my birthday. Lift up the tail and insert tea candle. Now, thats a load of old bollocks!!!!

Here endeth the English lesson for today!!!!!!!!

The Queens Jubilee

Well, if you hadn't noticed, HM The Queen had a small party last week to celebrate 60 years as Queen. I'm sure we know a few other queens who have celebrated 60 years!!! However, we decorated with some  flags on the balconey. How we come to have 3 Union Jacks AND and St Georges' flag is beyond me.

Did you see the concert outside the palace? Talking of queens, Sir Cliff Richard AND Sir Elton John performed. (For those who don't know of Cliff Richard, he was the British Elvis!). And not to mention the diva Dame Shirley Bassey ... woweeee girl .... not bad for 70+

They can all be checked out on youtube. Look for Madness singing 'ours is a nice house' from the palace roof.

xtube

We were told Chaps Inn features in a pool side blow job and a flogging. Not together, of course!! Go to you xtube.com and search bj chaps inn and then chaps inn flogging slave j's chest. That should do it!!! Look out for our friend AJ in the pool during the bj!!!! If we'd've know, we would've tidied up a bit!!!

Flogger supplied free of charge courtesy of Chaps Inn and donated by Whip Master Peter Fisk.

Yes, it's hot .. it's June!!!!

Well, 108f was forecast today. I don't think it got up to there here in Uptown but I can tell you at 6.30pm one of our thermometers read 100f .. the other read 98f. Phew but lovely. There's a great breeze blowing from the north cooling things down. This is going to be one of those nights where it will be 84 at 3.30am!!! Perfect for sleeping under the stars.

If the weather forecasters wern't so lily-livered putting people off with their comments ." Oh, you don't want to be in Palm Springs, it's brutal" we might get a few more people prepared to experience the desert heat. It's wonderful and that's why we have a pool, misting system and air-conditioning!!! So c'mon down. It's great. Except we're closed at the end of July for Dore Alley! (To get out of the heat you understand!!!!). LOL

Look at this!!

Lovely weekend this is turning out to be. Full to overflowing, we could've filled the place four times over this weekend. Maybe we should consider building a second storey! Sorry all you guys we had to turn away, you have to book earlier and get out of bed sooner to grab a room here!!!!! LOL! A big THANK YOU to all our regulars and a sorry goodbye to Mike from NY who has been with us for 9 nights. Visitors in from all over the states but no-one from overseas this weekend. A good contingent from CA; Ron returning from Atlanta, GA and 2 lovely new friends who had originally booked to stay somewhere else we had to kick out yesterday for one night but they're back today! From Wilmington, Delaware of all places!! Not to mention the lovely Fred from Long Beach who is always a joy to see! We love you all!!!1

 We were told by one of our guests that a cactus was in flower in the parking lot ... spectacular, I think you'll agree. It's about 8 inches (no clever comments, please!). There are several more waiting to burst out. Tomorrow, maybe!!!!

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful Memorial weekend. A cool 94 degrees here today!!

Later ......

PS A big thank you for my birthday cards, (most of them were very rude about my age!).  My sister forgot! Really ...... !!

Small party Ian's birthday

We all had a great time last Saturday afternoon ... the weather was perfect, misters going, people in the pool enjoying themselves. Thanks to all who came and sorry for those who couldn't make it. Let's see ... Erich was here, as was Dennis, AJ & Peter, Alex Ironrod & Butch, Don T. (Henry couldn't make it), Mike & John, nurse Tom, Tony, John and their friend Tom, "Paul at the Gate", Stuart (of course). There was not a crumb of birthday cake left!! One of Stuart's finest. Not forgetting guest Mike from NY.

Riviera Noise!!!

I don't know whether we are becoming a couple of old curmudgeons but we had to complain yet again to the Riveira about the loud music last night. It started around 8pm, loud and distorted. We stuck it out for an hour, so at 9pm Stuart called the hotel. Same as last time, couldn't care less. I called the police department to see how late their 'permit' was issued for. They couldn't have been nicer, a complete contrast to the last time. She actually said, "your guests are as important as their's". The music lasted another 20-30 minutes, just enough time for the police officer to arrive and tell them to turn it down, She even offered to get the police officer to call us ... I said no, I'm sure you have much more important things to do!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!!

Another gorgeous weekend

It has been a lovely weekend here in Palm Springs with the weather forecast today to reach 96f. We have, yet again, welcomed back some old friends ...the Two Bobs from Renton, WA, TJ and the little pigs (!) from San Diego, Steve and Greg from Dallas TX, and welcome new friends, Dan from Long Beach, Mark from Mission Viejo CA, Nick from Cleveland OH, Pete from Oakland CA,  Roger from Seattle Mmm .. wonder if he knows the Two Bob's?  Sadly we say goodbye to Kevin from NSW Australia who has stayed with us on and off since February.  Oh well, as my mum says, if you don't leave, you can't come back!! If that makes any sense. See you in November, Kevin!!

We are in bloom .. see attatched pictures. The orange Canna Lily is from my cousin Barrie's garden in Toronto. When he died, his husband Gordon sent me a few rhizones which we planted in our garden in North Hollywood and when we moved, we brought some with us.

We are expecting Dennis and AJ over this afternoon. No doubt some flogging will ensue!! Just another regular Sunday afternoon at Chaps!

Re blog April 2nd

In the April 2nd blog I mentioned the invasive noise from The Riviera. I had written to the General Manager and copied that letter to all the City Council members and the Palm Springs City Manager. You'll never guess but ... the City Manager called and apologised!!!!! He said they will certainly make steps to ensure the noise ordinance is enforced  and that this year, the police dropped the ball!!!!!!  Lets hope they received lots of complaints.

PS The City Manager is the person who married Stuart and me.

Summer has arrived!!!!!

Yes folks, summer has arrived here in Palm Springs. Yesterday, (Friday) the temperature reached 94f. Today we're up to 96f even with the misters going flat out. It must be 100 at least. Needless to say now we are getting some heat, one of our airconditioners wasn't working, oh course!!! Good job we're millionaires, right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????

 Going from our parking lot through the gate is like entering a really cool courtyard. Loving it!!!

We have had an  incredibly busy month so far welcoming returning guests and new ones so welcome back Stuart, Jeff, Richard and Lee from San Diego, Jose from Columbus, Ohio. The two Bob's back again from Seattle. Kevin from NSW, Australia has returned after a brief visit to Hawaii. We had the pleasure of Dick from San Francisco staying with us for a week, glad to say living up to his well earned reputation!!! See you at Dore Alley, Dick!!!

There's nawt so queer as folk!!!!

We've had a very busy fortnight, what with Dinah Shore and White Party .. none of our guests were in for either, by the way!!!

I've written to the General Manager of the Riviera to complain about the noise (Dinah Shore weekend), and copied it to all members of the Palm Springs City Council in the hope that they might give some thought next year to limiting the noise and think about the rest of us. We pay taxes too, y'know!!!! No doubt we won't hear anything. I'll letcha know. It was deplorable.

However, the quote at the top of this post is an old north of England expression which, roughly translated, means 'arn't people strange?"! Yes, that's where "Queer As Folk" comes from. Good olde England!! Some body called yesterday to enquire about rooms for next weekend. We have one available, I gave him the details, price etc only for him to ask, 'what kind of hotel are you'!. Astounded as I was I asked him whether he had checked out our website. No, a friend had recommended us. Now, why would you call a gay hotel anywhere in the world without checking out the website first? I believe they have (limited) access even in prison these days. He didn't take the room! As I said, There's nawt ..........
Oh well.

And I did!! See previous post!

I took our guest, Don (from Toronto),  up to Whitewater as promised. Forgetting it was spring break, the whole place was crawling with screaming brats and their long suffering parents. Anyhow, we managed to have a great walk through the mountains and Don waded into the water which, by the by, is freezing cold coming from the snow melt off the mountains.

We had taken a small picnic, (Ina, of course), her lobster roll substituting shrimp for lobster and a bag of chips. It was rather warm but we found a table in the shade and ate our sandwiches. On the way back we  arrived at the railway crossing as a 2,000 car container train was going by.  Two hours later (actually no more than 10 minutes) we set off and I decided Don needed to go up to the tram. We didn't intend to ride the tram but we drove up to the first parking station, turned around and drove down .. always astounding ... there is no way anyone can tell how high the climb is until you start the decent. The whole valley is laid out in front of you and is breathtaking. We could pick out the hospital knowing Chaps Inn is right there hopefully.

Sorry Jim, it really was lovely and we missed you. Next year, first week OK?

I almost forgot...

I'm taking Don to Whitewater tomorrow, packing up a sandwich and heading out around 11am. for a couple of hours.

What a week!

To continue .... so sorry to see Jim leave, Les left today for Montana, the first person we've had stay with us from Montana. We still have 'the boys' from Salt Lake City and the contingent from New York. Patrick left yesterday to spend a few days in a trailer (!)..... Hopefully we'll see you all again in 2013. Of course we won't because the world is ending December 21st 2012 ... remember? Party here December 20th 2012 and another one December 21st "It didn't happen" party!!!!!

What a weekend!!!!

This weekend saw the girls in town for the Dinah Shore so called golf tournament although I doubt if many of them saw a golf course unless they went to Escena for brunch. The main event was held at the Riviera Hotel and it was NOISY. The music started at 9am Saturday and Sunday mornings and went on constantly until 5pm. It was so loud we could hear the announcements from the pool party. I called the hotel twice on Saturday and once on Sunday to complain about the noise .. guess what? Couldn't care less. I called the local police .. guess what? Couldn't care less. At least I found out they had a special permit for music up until 6pm which thankfully someone pulled the plug at 5. I know, I know, it brings in revenue for the city but puleeze people, there is a limit to what we can endure. Next year I'll be at the council meeting to object to the permit ...it won't make any difference but I'll be there. It was so loud I turned our music off!!!! I hope we wern't the only people to complain. I can't imagine what it must've been like staying at the Desert Sun opposite the Riviera!!!!!!!

welcome home, Jim

Hi there Jim,

We hope everything went smoothly and you will almost be there by now (here, 7.30pm).  We went onto the balconey and waited .. we think this is you although we're not sure. It took off around the time you were due to leave so it might be Sun Country or maybe not.  We miss you and will start planning for next year! I KNOW!!!!! SHUDUP!!!

I KNOW!!!! I KNOW!!!!

Well, what a wonderful week this  turned out to be. Not only did we welcome back Jim from Minneapolis, Don from Toronto, Patrick from New York City, Al & Gary from San Francisco we welcomed for the first time the Neumeisters from P.Town!!!  Not to mention Robert (the first Mr. Sister Leather) Blackmon - now living in Ottawa, Canada with his lovely husband Martin - but visiting for the tennis tournament in Indian Wells .... and we thought he had come to see us - how presumptive of us!!!!! And Greg and Edwin from Vallejo and San Diego respectively
It's just like a big family reunion without the arguments - imagine that!
Tomorrow, Friday,  Pot Luck dinner. That'll be a first. I promise, I promise pictures and a full report.

WOW!!!!

We can't believe it ....... 7 rooms filled tonight and 3 rooms with no car!!!! Looks bad when the other hotel owners do drive byes ...... LOL.

Very , very windy tonight. We are looking forward to the weekend. Jim arrives on Friday and let the parties begin!!!!! Pomegranet Martinis here we go!!

On Your Knees Productions!

If you were to receive an envelope in the mail with a return address of 'On Your Knees Productions', what's the first thing you think of?? Maybe a porn shoot,  wanting to use the hotel? That's what we thought. WRONG!!!

It turned out to be a diatribe against all us sinners and fornicators, gays, lesbians, all non believers (Muslims, Hindus, Buddists, Mormans etc etc etc). Quite a good description of how we will be burning is hell but never dying and the maggots will eat our flesh. You get the picture!!! The envelope was addressed to the General Manager, scribbled out and replaced by 'Owners' so whoever it was had obviously been onto our website. Anyway, how we laughed.

Weather here, wish you were lovely!!!!

OK, it's an old joke, I know, but we are having a great spell of warm weather, probably 82f today. Looking forward to a full and busy weekend, starting today welcoming back some old friends and meeting new ones.

We are having the trees trimmed today between us and next door. Hopefully it will give us a bit of our mountain view back. I've taken the 'before' picture, I need to take the 'after' before I post.

Oh, I know I've said this before but, even though the gate might be open (like today because we have the tree trimmers in), please don't just walk in. Call from the gate first.

Mike & John

Our friends, Mike and John threw a very enjoyable 20th anniversary bash at their spacious Palm Springs estate last Friday night which we were lucky enough to be able to attend.  Copious quantities of cake and wine were consumed (rightly so). Some faces we recognised but couldn't put names to them, sorry guys if we appeared a bit blank!! Amongst the happy throng were spotted Don Thompson and Henry Jordan .. always a pleasure. Don was the very first San Francisco Leather Daddy - we hob-nob with only the best!! John entertained us with his organ (!) and a lively sing-along of Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang!!! Unfortunately we didn't get around to a rousing chourus of our favorite "Who put their overalls in Mrs Murphy's chowder!".

Thanks again, Mike and John. See, we are able to get out occasionally!!!

We have sad news.

It is with great regret we have to tell you of the death of our dear friend  Jack, as of' ("Touched by Jack"), the lovely masseur, who died whilst on vacation in Hawaii as a result of a parasailing accident.  We still don't believe it.  He and his boyfriend Woody came round to visit 2 weeks ago and Jack  was so excited and proud for us to meet Woody. They were finally going to spend some time together after having met at Delta.

Jack is the only masseur we ever recommended despite all the others dropping off their cards.

Please note other masseurs;  don't just drop off your cards and expect us to display them in our office without at least offering us a free 1/2 hour!!! How are we supposed to recommend you?

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!!

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!

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.

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

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!!!!

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!