Posted in April, beach, blooms, driving, Fiction, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, Lake Tahoe, spring break, travel, vacation, weather, writing, tagged blizzard, Florida, Gobbler's Knob, Great Lakes, Groundhog, Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day Club, inner circle, liar, liars, Milltown Mel, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil, rodent, shadow, snow, spring, top hat, winter on March 18, 2019| 16 Comments »
So Groundhog Day has come and gone. The most famous groundhog of Groundhog Day history is Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania. This year on February 2nd, Phil was released from his comfy captivity and forced into the wilds of Gobbler’s Knob in front of a camera crew and numerous onlookers to look around and predict whether or not spring was about to bust loose around us. (more…)
Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, books, breakfast, Christmas, Family, Fiction, food, grammar, health, hill billy, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, redneck, sports, travel, Uncategorized, Vicksburg, words, writing, tagged chicken, chicken dinner, chitlins, cracklins, Faulkner, food, football, Halloween, hunting, hunting season, kale, Kansas, kumbachu, Mississippi, pork rinds, quinoa, unexplained, weird, Welty on March 4, 2019| 12 Comments »
I’ve lived in Mississippi for almost 4 years now and there are still some things that I just can’t comprehend. Mostly I love the laid back way of life and southern hospitality. I love the charming small town feel of a lot of places in this great state. Other things, I don’t get. At all. (more…)
Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, camera, Family, friends, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, writing, tagged America, Americans, Baer House Inn, flags, foreign countries, foreigners, guests, inn guests, international, maps, Mississippi, thankful, the deep south, the south, tourists, travel, traveling, traveling abroad, United States, USA, visitors on January 21, 2019| 15 Comments »
One of the things I really like about innkeeping is meeting folks from all over the world. When we first bought the inn, I never imagined that I’d meet people from so many different countries. I truly never imagined there’d be so many people from other parts of the world interested in the deep south. (more…)
Posted in awards, Barbie, blogging, camera, Christmas, dogs, Family, friends, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, sports, toys, Vicksburg, writing, tagged Barbie, bikes, children, Christmas presents, cute, funny letters, kids, letters to Santa, newspaper, presents, random, Santa, Santa Claus, sweet, Xbox on January 7, 2019| 8 Comments »
So the holiday madness is behind us and all that’s left is the clean up. Yeah, that’s the part nobody really likes. I’m the person who likes to have everything cleaned up and put away by the end of the day on January 1. It doesn’t always work out that way, but it’s my goal. Not that I’m ready for the pretty sparkling lights to go away – because I’m not – but because I usually have an entire day on January 1st with nothing pressing to do, so I undecorate before the madness of “real” life settles back in. (more…)
Posted in Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, Christmas, Family, friends, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, musical theater, singing, Uncategorized, Vicksburg, writing, tagged acappella, choir, christmas music, funny christmas songs, funny holiday songs, funny songs, mens acappella, mens choir, music, music video, straight no chaser, video, Youtube on December 24, 2018| 12 Comments »
Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you’ve all got plans to be with family and loved ones this evening and tomorrow. I’ll be enjoying some peace and quiet here at the inn. (more…)
Posted in authors, awards, blogging, books, drinks, Family, food, friends, goals, gratitude journal, health, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, success, travel, vacation, writers, writing, tagged clean-up, fallen tree, found items, good deeds, honor, integrity, left behind, lost items, mail, packages, returning things, silent deeds, thank you on December 10, 2018| 11 Comments »
I’m sure we’ve all heard this philosophical question at some point in our lives: If a tree falls in the forest, does it make any sound? There are arguments for those in the yes camp and arguments for those in the no camp. Is anybody right? I suppose we’ll never know.
Posted in Family, Fiction, food, friends, health, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, mowing lawn, travel, Uncategorized, vacation, writing, tagged delivery drivers, drivers, employers, FedEx, garbage pick-up, gifts, housekeeping, minimum wage, money, post office, random, restaurants, salary, tipping, tips, UPS, USPS, wages, wait staff, waiters on December 3, 2018| 8 Comments »
I recently had a very intellectual debate with myself about the whole phenomenon known as tipping. Now, I’ve always believed that tipping should be done when service is over and above what might “normally” be expected. Except, of course, restaurant servers, I tip them regardless of their service because I know that they only get paid like $2 an hour and they rely on tips to even make a living. And that is where I run into a problem. (more…)
