Christmas is coming!

Decorating for Christmas. All you who thought I was sitting on my arse eating bon-bons whilst Stuart was ripping up carpets etc, etc, this is what I've been doing and it ain't done yet!



Just a load of old balls!!!



Because we are #1!!!!

Santa waiting for the steam room to heat up. He'll have a long wait. It's out of order!!!



Mabel helping with the decorating!!!

Remodel is going well

You'll (YULE?), be pleased to know our recent remodeling on rooms 2, 5 and 7 is going well and actually in front of schedule. (Don't tell the help). One nightmare was getting the tub out of #7 which had to be cut in half to get it out of the bathroom! I'll save you the other nightmares. The wood tile is laid in both 2 and 7. Wood tile, that is to say, tile that looks like wood, duh!

Danny is busy putting  the new tile in the shower of #7 and very smart it looks too, white and gray. I am going to be the first person to shower there unless Danny beats me to it!! The bathroom window in #7 is also being replaced and the kitchen cabinets have been painted. The carpet is being ripped up in #5 as I type although the light is fading fast. I have to admit, putting plain carpet in all the rooms was a BIG mistake. There is a reason why casino carpeting is always multi-coloured. Room 2 is getting ceiling fans in the bedroom and sitting room. Ceiling hooks get in the way in the other rooms. Oh, and  the rooms are having fresh paint on the walls. I am so glad we are multi-billionaires! Oh and by the way Jim, there still isn't a dish-washer in 7!!!

Pictures to follow once everything gets cleaned up.

Santa Arrives at Chaps Inn!!

Well, here he is!!!

Mummified Santa? Something Suzi and Sara forgot to take home!!!!

Ahhh, that's better!!! Hellooooo!!

Where is everybody??!!

Gay Pride, Leather Pride

All decked out for Pride weekend caption

I can't begin to tell you how much we have both enjoyed the last couple of weeks spanning Gay Pride and Leather Pride weekends. We have welcomed back visitors from not only the United States, but Australia, Canada, New Zealand and England. Sorry to say we had a couple of cancellations. Bob & Bob couldn't make it this year and neither could Chris from Vancouver but here's hoping to see you in 2014. In fact, Chris has already booked. It is having times like these which makes us so pleased we do what we do and meet so many lovely men. Darren & Arthur CO, Ron GA, Jack & Roger San Francisco, Al & Gary also San Francisco. Richard & Mike from San Diego, Marc, Connor & Farrell from Toronto. We had two Franks, Frank 1 from Toronto, Frank 6 from Boston MA. Called 1 & 6 because of their room numbers..  Not forgetting Don and Jeff from San Diego who have been staying here for Gay Pride for at least 8 if not 10 years. It was great. We went to the Mr. Palm Springs Leather competition Saturday night, Mr. Off Ramp (www.offrampleathers.com) won to represent Palm Springs at IML next year. CONGRATS. Well deserved. The Leather competition was well attended and always gives us the opportunity to see and talk to many. many people who have stayed with us and now live here. (It's OK folks, you can drop by to visit instead of seeing you once a year at the competition!). We also managed to avoid a couple of people we didn't want to see, no names!!!!

Well, here's to next year!!!!!!!!



Suzi and Sarah weekend!!!

For those who don't know, we have a group from (mainly) San Diego who take the hotel for 3 nights over this weekend and have been doing so for around 6 or 7 years. Yes, lesbians into S&M!!! There are also a couple of straight couples.  However, we tend to stay out of the way and leave them to it.
It's a fun group but can be a bit noisy!!
Sorry but I can't figure out how to revolve the 'menu' but I think you'll get the gist



My hammock out the back away from everything



Menu for the weekend



Some apparatus by the pool

Temperature drops in Palm Springs!

Surprise!!!! Yes, I know, it's been a while!!!

We are now heading into Autumn and the temperature has dropped accordingly. Even so, we are getting up in the high 80's during the day. Lovely! No complaints here. We have also been very busy both during the week and weekends so I suppose 'season' has started. We've welcomed back many return visitors and a few newbies.

We've had guests in from (so far this month apart from California), New York City,  Las Vegas, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Wilton Manors, FL,  Key West, FL, Scottsdale, AZ, Pomfret CT, Arlington, VA, Denver, CO, Baton Rouge, LA and few Brits, Bournemouth and Manchester. Oh, and an executive producer for the X-Factor!!! No names.

We've also had visits from some of our regular 'locals', Erich, Tony, Neal, Paul, & Ed. Not forgetting Dennis, AJ and Peter.

It will be 13 years on October 31st since we moved here. We actually took possession November 1st 2000. Wow, thirteen years!!! Nobody is more surprised than we are!!  We ran the hotel as a straight hotel for the first 5 months when it was called the Colibri Inn. It was straight people, (mainly women)  who caused us to rethink our decision but we stuck it out and here we are!  We had one couple from Oregon stayed with us for a month. We were having the Steam Room installed and he accused us of building our own private playhouse!!!! Duh!!! We kept the old sign for many months before feeling secure enough to throw it out!!! There's a few more years in us yet!!

It's still H O T!!!!

Here we are, coping quite well with the heat. 104f (40c) at 10am this morning. The pool is perfect and the misting system is going strong. Step outside our complex and the heat hits you like walking into a stove!!! Not complaining. Only saying!!!

Since I last wrote, we have had the annual Deserters weekend which is always a lot of fun. This weekend we are hosting the Maximus Bear Pipe Social on Friday 20th 6pm-9pm. Anyone interest can find information on www.blackfireweekend.com Looking forward to a great weekend.

We have  Jim and Terry with us from San Francisco on their annual visit, very nice. Also a few weeks ago, Uncle Dick stayed for his second time this year, also from San Francisco. Hank & Larry from Guernville and bill from Omaha, NE, all regulars which we look forward to seeing. We are also looking forward to seeing (amongst others), Bud and Trip this weekend from Atlanta, FL

It's none stop fun, fun, fun here as you can imagine! LOL!!

And now, the rain!!!!

It poured this afternoon in Palm Springs. We had been warned. We put up all the umbrellas to wash down the last of the ash from the fires. Very refreshing but still H O T. The rain was C O L D!!!!

Here's a couple of photos .. raining in the pool (as if nobody doesn't know what that looks like) and one of our bespoke, patented, avant  garde, genuine Palm Springs designed heat deterrent pool rail cover, (Zip ties are extra!!).

Spectaular Lightening show

Tonight, August 22nd we had the most amazing light show. Forked lightening (no thunder) which went on for, oh, minutes. Looking south from our patio, way up in the mountains towards Idyllwild. Hopefully this doesn't mean more fires.  Looking out, there is a glow. Gulp! Not more ash and smoke. Cough,  cough!!

We are stocked up with batteries for our flashlights just incase! . LOL!! Unfortunately we don't have a camera worthy of taking the pictures. We do have several wind up radios!!!!

Still here!!!

We survived the fires. There is no more wood-smoke permeating the air and we can blink without tearing up. There was a moment this afternoon when we thought it was starting again which came to nothing.

Excitement on Sunday - one of our water heaters stopped heating water! It's a good job we have hidden trillions which saved our ass. Luckily no guests wanting to shower but it was the water heater for rooms 7, 8, 9 & 10, laundry room and our kitchen! Oh well, always something as they say

We are replacing all the patio screen doors on rooms 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6. Danny is doing a great job. Would you believe they are not all the same size.  LOL!

Oh, Oh, I nearly forgot ... bathroom windows replaced for rooms 2 & 3. Finally the last original windows from 1949 gone. See them on e-bay and bid well!!!!!

Update

The fires are still burning. Over 6,000 acres so far. I love the smell of wood smoke but only in the autumn when people light their own fires. The ash is still falling but not as much as yesterday. Devilishly hot today not that we're complaining (102 at 1pm). The wind isn't helping.

We went to Bongo Johnnies for lunch today. The other patrons must have thought we were
 crazy out of  towners as we sat on the patio in splendid isolation!!! That's OK. What's a bit of ash in your red wine/burger? LOL

Eyes still smarting, ash still falling, wind blowing, weather still hot. A long way from England we are! Oh, the thunderstorm we had whilst in Stratford. I'm most whistful!!!  Cough,  cough!!

Wild Fires!!

I forgot to mention, when the taxi came to pick us up at 4am July 16th to take us to the airport, the smell of wood smoke in the air was evident and the ash in the pool was obvious. The taxi driver took us via Downtown/Taquitz to show us the fire on the mountain ridge. At the airport people were sweeping up ash from the public areas We were delayed for an hour taking off to San Francisco, not because of the fire or fear of the jet taking in too much ash and crashing. No, the usual .. weather at SFO. That didn't matter to us ... it cut down our stop over by an hour so only four hours wait instead of five. Incidentaly, the United lounge at SFO in one word ... crap!!

Tonight the fires are back and at 6pm we couldn't see the mountain because of the smoke. Ash floating down, smoke causing eyes to stream but far enough away not to cause us any real concern. People have been evacuated to Hemet (it must be bad). About 2,500 acres burnt so far and many homes/buildings gone. We really have considered registering with the American Red Cross to use this place as emergency accommodation. I'm sure the victims wouldn't mind the hooks in ceilings/St. Andrews Cross etc. We'll be sure they are only here during the week!!!!

If all we have to worry about is smell of wood smoke, ash in the pool and having to wash down the patio, then life isn't too bad!!! Cough,  cough!! Pass me a tissue!

We're B A C K!!

OMG, I (again) can't believe how time flies!

However, we are back from our vacation to England safe and sound. Yes, we were there for the birth. No, it didn't affect our trip at all. In fact it just passed us by because we chose not to listen to the crazy media frenzy.

Dennis and AJ looked after the place while we were away. The only fly in the ointment was not being able to reply to e-mails or check our voice mail messages. Nothing to do with British technology, more to do with our devices. Will be more prepared next time.

We did everything we had planned to do and everything fell into place. It's funny how things work out, especially after planning for so long. The one and only night we spent in London we went to our favorite restaurant, Maggie Jones' where we have been going since the 70's. Fabulous as usual and still  as expensive yikes!

Anyhoo, here we are safe and sound. I have to tell you, United Airlines Business Class is not what it is made out to be. I believe the United Business Class has been dumbed down and you get the service that once was United Premium Economy. God help Economy Class. Actually, the flight out upstairs on an aged 747 wasn't bad but the flight and crew on the way back on the 777  left a lot to be desired. Neither way did I get my first choice meal. Poor me.

Visited friends and family but it was the first time back when I haven't been able to see my dear friend Pegi.

Open for business now, guests in from San Diego and Tucson AZ, A fairly quiet weekend. Time will tell.

A great day in California!!!

I don't suppose there is anybody out there who hasn't heard of the Supreme's decision today regarding DOMA and Prop 8. What a great day and what great news this morning. Driving down Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood at 7.15 this morning, stopped at the lights and had to let out a loud W O W! Oh, and clapped much to the surprise of some crossing pedestrians!

Apart from that!! We are expecting temperatures of up to 117f (45c). Our thermometer only goes up to 120. What happens if the temperature goes beyond that? Will it be like some Bugs Bunny/Tom and Jerry cartoon and the thermometer explodes? Always something to worry about. LOL. If that's all we've got to worry about ...

Guests ... really!

I mean, if you book a room for 3 nights for 2 people, don't turn up and tell us you are only staying 2 nights and there are 3 people! We took it on the chin, raced around to supply the 3rd set of towels, soaps etc. and then treat us as if we are only the InnKeepers!

LOL reminds me of Les Miserables .... Come on my dears, sit yourselves down and meet the best Inn Keepers in town!!!  LOL, that's probably right!!! We are!!!

Palm trees get a haircut!!

When we lived in North Hollywood and our relatives visited, our young nephew Nat was 4 or 5 years old and no bigger than a packet of chips, he called palm trees, 'hairy trees" Well, our hairy tree had a haircut. The other two palm trees are Washingtonians (the only indigenous palm tree from California) have to wait for a couple of more weeks before they are ready.  Here you are, before and after

The other trees you'll have to wait and see ....

The weather continued

For all those of you who are interested, it didn't get anywhere near the 108 forecast. Today was a lovely balmy 98 with a very slight nor'easterly breeze (made that up!) but with an occasional turn around from the south. Gorgeous.

A word to the weather forecasters

I don't know where they get their information or where they take the temperature, possibly the middle of the runway at the airport. They are, more often than not, way off with their forecasts. For example take yesterday, Friday. The forecast was for 105. Here it got up as far as 92. Wow!!!!!!!! These people are to blame for frightening away potential visitors. "Oh, you don't want to be in Palm Springs, it's going to be horrendously hot!" Tish tosh!!

It's forecast to be 108 today. We'll see.

Continued .....

Ahem, as I said, to be continued!!!! Well, then we had Memorial weekend. Another glorious weekend of unbeatable weather. We were full as you can imagine for a major holiday. Lots of return visitors. Joe, Al & their dog Ginger), Dick K from San Francisco was in for the whole week which is always a pleasure. Visitors in from Phoenix, Valencia, West Hollywood, Granada Hills, Vesta CA, San Diego, Berkley quiet the turn out!!!

Oh, I nearly forgot .. it was my birthday May 24th but waited until Monday before celebrating. Mike and John were here, as were Gino, Dennis & AJ, Soloman & Chris and a couple of our guests. Perfect weather for a party.

Another lovely weekend in Paradise!!!

You can't beat this weather. Mid 90's over the weekend, just wonderful. We had a very busy weekend with people in all week from all over. Los Angeles, (of course), Beverly Hills, Peoria AZ, Palm Springs (!), Santa Ana CA, San Francisco, Madison Heights MI and not forgetting our Scottish cousins from Edinburgh. It wasn't a very quiet weekend

To be continued!!!!!!!

Man attacked by Rabid Racoon!!!

No not really rabid we hope! Dennis was putting out the trash at his work, lifted up the lid of the dumpster, a raccoon was inside, lashed out and caught Dennis on the face ... nasty cuts and scratches. Many hours spent at the hospital but all's well thank goodness.

Now, a word about poolside etiquette ... it goes without saying and I am surprised I have to say it BUT .. sometimes there is 'activity' on, near or by the pool area. DO NOT TAKE CLANDESTINE PHOTOGRAPHS  either with a camera or on your cellphone. Luckily we persuaded the offender to delete the pictures.

ALSO, we are more than happy to let our guests play their own music although what's wrong with MY ipad I fail to grasp. BUT, when we ask for the music to be turned down, please don't try to argue with us or throw us filthy looks!

Apart from that, we've had a great weekend with visitors from Columbus, OH, San Diego, Ontario, Oxnard, Hacienda Heights, San Diego and from far flung Cathedral City. Not to forget our Canadian cousin from Vancouver.

The weather has cooled considerably back to a comfortable 85 today. Although we do love the heat, it's a bit early in the year for 90's+.  Not complaining.

Emergency at Chaps Inn

I can't believe I havn't mentioned this before ... however, last Sunday March 31st Stuart myself and guest Michael walked up to Rick's for dinner. When we got back here, our guests in number 10 told us they could hear their neighbour in room 9 making noises as if in pain. We rushed up but he had locked the deadbolt so had to dash down, get the deadbolt key, open the door ... and there is Robert on the bed obviously in pain and  drifting in and out of consciousness. Cut a long story short, I called 911 while Stuart held on to Robert trying to make him stay awake. The fire truck, paramedics, ambulance and more paramedics arrived. We could hear them coming up Indian Canyon (of course!) alerting the entire city.

It appears Robert was about to go into a diabetic coma and if the guys in 10 had not heard him and if we hadn't returned from Ricks when we did, there is no doubt he would be dead. He's fine now. Walked home from the hospital at 4.30am! Please don't do that again, Robert!!!!!

Great Party times!!!!

We are having a great time here in Palm Springs. Our friend Jim from Minneapolis is here for the 9th year. Wonderful weather up in the late 80's. Mike and John were here for the afternoon. We are planning a Pot Luck for Thursday. Jim will do his famous stuffed mushrooms and mini Ruebens. I think ribs were mentioned somewhere. We are expecting Tony  but there again, he calls and never turns up these days. We'll see.

Jim and I drove into North Hollywood yesterday. Met with John & Angela at their gorgeous West Toluca Lake estate, went to my place of work, W.M. Creations in NoHo and then on to the house on Radford Avenue. Unfortunately we missed a few people along the way ie John, Matthew, Jackie and Tommy. We then went to the Eclectic Wine Bar & Grill on Lankershim Blvd, the site of many a L O N G champagne brunch. I won't mention getting a bit lost trying to find Bob Hopes's house!!!!
A lovely day.

A Rip-Roaring Sucess

It was a great party for the send off of LOBOC last night. There were 60 people here for the catered dinner (catering by Leon's), and there was room for a few more. Now we know how many we can seat for any further events.

A sad event nevertheless. Friends who have know each other for years, meeting regularly, coming to Chaps Inn since 2001 except 2011 & 2012.

Grillmaster Vince cooking lunch

Here are a few pictures:

LOBOC

It looks like being a beautiful weekend for LOBOC thank goodness. No rain forecast, 84 today and up near the 90's over the weekend. There have been times in previous years when it has rained buckets and the run was cancelled. I don't think there is a run scheduled for this year. and no rain!

We're looking forward to it. Al & Gary arrived today. It might be a bit chaotic but we'll cope as usual!!

This year is the final Hurrah for LOBOC. The last and final gathering.

Season Started.

What a beautiful weekend for those who don't follow the Palm Springs weather. 85f approx 30c today, clear blue skies, no wind. Perfect.

We have Don back from Toronto, return visitors from Atlanta GA, Los Angeles, and our international guests from Germany. Guests in all week, so busy, busy, busy.

A great weekend!

Can it really be 2 weeks?..... I know, I'm always saying it but really, has it been 2 weeks? YES!

Oh well. A cold weekend here in Palm Springs. Saturday was OK but Sunday Brrrr a high of 49f.

We had a great group of guys in this weekend, from Friday thru  this morning (Monday). Evan (first time visitor) from San Francisco was in for the weekend as was Jackson and bf from Massachusetts, Donand partner from Norwalk CA not forgetting the group (names withheld to protect the innocent) from San Diego. They know how to party. Out came the champagne/OJ around mid-day Sunday followed shortly by the ceremonial opening of Makers Mark! Oh dear!!!! And so the afternoon flowed beautifully!! Oh, nearly forgot David from NY NY who was with us for a week. Neither Evan or David had a car which made us appear to be  emptier than we were.

Who watched the BAFTA's last night? Nobody? Oh well. The MC Stephen Frey said of George Clooney "his face has been declared a place of outstanding natural beauty. Just the place to go and sit and have a picnic!" LOL

The contractors who did the work on the decking in December are back tomorrow to finish off. It appears there have been places, quite noticable places, where the sealer was not applied correctly. All that money spent and they are having to come back. Shame on them. We won't be recommending them anytime soon!

It stopped raining!!!

Yes, it finally stopped, only to find the mountain has almost disappeared!!!!

At least the sun's shining and we expect naked bodies this afternoon!!!

An angel came to visit!

Well, not a REAL angel because they don't exist but how did this happen? We know who did it but HOW he  managed to get it there a mystery. This is in a tree seperating us from next door at least 15ft from the ground. Stuart noticed it when he thought we had a hummingbird nest!!!

Raining in Palm Springs

It has been raining all day today starting around 5am and still raining 7.30pm. Good! We would much rather have the rain than the cold. If it's 54 degrees here or raining here, nobody wants to be in Palm Springs for the weekend. Having said that, we do have visitors from LA which shows what a hardy bunch we gays are!!!!

Back to normal!

We're back to normal temperatures so no more electric blankets and/or hot water bottles!!!! We have enjoyed lighting the fire and smelling the wood smoke even though we know it's not good for the environment. Goodbye to all that!

Stuart has been very busy painting the room doors to bring them up to the new decking standard. Everything looks so bright and new. He painted 14 doors today!! Me? I did the books :( 
14 doors? We only have 10 rooms but there are 2 doors into the laundry, 1 steam room and 1 office door. That makes 14 I think. GORGEOUS!

Looking forward to a busy Martin Luther King weekend. Not to do with anything but today was the 19th anniversary of the Northridge earthquake. We  lived in North Hollywood then and I never ever want to go through that again. The violence was unbelievable. 4.31am, January 17th 1994. We had only been at the house for 4 months and all the walls collapsed between neighbours which is how we met the neighbours.

And another thing to do with nothing ... my sister Maxine is in  OK magazine again!!!!! Christmas issue Jan 1st page 135.  The Queen is on the front page, as usual!!

Winter arrives in Palm Springs!!!!

Brrrrrr. Poor, poor us having to experience a cold snap. Anybody would think it had never happened before. I bet nobody remembers the year we had SNOW in Palm Springs possibly 03 or 04?  It didn't settle of course but it was quite the flurry for at least 30 seconds! And then the day Stuart saw somebody slip on ice outside the methedone clinic? See, it has been cold here before.

The temperature at 7.30 this morning was 40F and is exactly the same 12 hours later. We did get a high of 54F!!! Next weekend we're expecting mid 70's. Back to normal.

Happy New Year

A VERY Happy New Year to everybody!!!! Thank you to all who stayed with us during 2012 and here's hoping to see you in 2013. Whooo Hooo here we go again!!!! Can you believe our 13th year? Neither can we.

We didn't do anything special for New Year ... fireworks woke us at midnight!! We did watch the ball drop in New York at 9pm.

We had a lot of return visitors again, Hawaii, CA, Columbus OH. One guest stayed with us the last time in 2001 ... I didn't ask where he had been for 11 years. Anyway, the thing is, he came back (eventually).

I went to the World Gym today expecting it to be crowded with the New Years Resolutionists but no; relatively quiet BUT someone stole my towel!!!!! There I was having a shower, came to where I had left my towel hanging ... no towel! My key was still there on the hook but my towel was nowhere to be seen. One of our lovely white towels, the whitest towel in the gym someone took a shine to it. Needless to say everybody there was using a white towel. None as white as mine but really, you can't just approach a total stranger and ask to look at his towel (or can you). I feel like following World Gym on Twitter and tweeting about it. (You can follow us on Twitter @chapsinfo).

We are planning our summer vacation already,  going to England, renting a flat and  spending some time in Stratford Upon Avon so we will be closed during July. Hopefully Dennis & AJ will be able to be here to look after the place but we will not be taking reservations during the time we are away.

All the very, very best for 2013.  Looking forward to March, Jim!!!!