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Archive for the ‘vacation’ Category

Well That’s Weird

Posted in beer, blogging, drinks, Family, food, friends, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, trivia, vacation, Vicksburg, weather, weird facts, writing, tagged 4th of July, Congress, funny, history, hot, hot dogs, Independence Day, lazy, lazy days, Presidents, rum, sarcasm, summer, US Presidents, watermelon on July 1, 2019| 10 Comments »

So here it is July already. 2019 is just zipping right along isn’t it? We’re already past the longest day of the year and diving head first into those REALLY hot summer days leading up to Fall. (more…)

It’s Not Just A Day Off

Posted in beach, blogging, Family, food, friends, Holidays, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, success, travel, vacation, words, writing, tagged America, American Civil War, American flag, BBQ, confederate, fallen soldiers, family, heroes, history, Memorial Day, military, patriotic, patriotism, picnics, remember, sacrifice, servicemen, soldiers, veterans on May 27, 2019| 4 Comments »

I believe I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, I am very patriotic. I love patriotic songs. The patriotic holidays are some of my favorites. I have the utmost respect for our country, our flag, and the incredible people willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the freedoms of everyone living in this country. And I don’t mean just the Americans either. I mean EVERYONE living in his country.

I believe patriotism is in my blood. Why? Well, because “Patriotism or national pride is the feeling of love, devotion and sense of attachment to a homeland.”(en.widipedia.org) That’s how I feel. Despite the flaws, I love this country. I feel a sense of devotion to the homeland that I have grown very attached to. I consider myself lucky to be living in this great nation. (more…)

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Should You Really Be Complaining About That?

Posted in blogging, Disney, Disney World, Family, Fiction, friends, goals, gratitude journal, health, humor, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, social media, success, travel, vacation, Walt Disney World, writing, tagged complainers, complaining, complaints, Disney, Disney busses, Disney hotels, Facebook, parking, travel, traveling, ungrateful, whiners on May 20, 2019| 11 Comments »

I don’t like perpetual complainers. I don’t understand people who always find something to complain about. I don’t get it. Why go through life looking for the negative stuff? How depressing. How much nicer it is to see the silver lining even in the darkest places. It’s not always easy to see the positive side of things, I get that, but there is always something to be thankful for. The truth is, most of us have some challenges in our lives to deal with. But, we don’t have to harp on them. We all have good things in our lives as well. (more…)

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Why A Smart Ass Shouldn’t Run An Inn

Posted in April, authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, Family, Fiction, food, friends, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, writers, writing, tagged basement, fun, funny, humor, idiots, jokes, joking, On Common Ground, sarcasm, sense of humor, smart aleck, snarky, stare, stupid, tornado on April 22, 2019| 6 Comments »

Running an inn is not without its challenges. But, for the most part it’s pretty stress-free and interesting. There are extremely busy days, mountains of laundry, always some fix-it job that needs doing, but nothing that poses life or death decisions for the most part. Except during tornadoes, but let’s not go there. (more…)

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Mr. Kuner’s Clock

Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blooms, humor, Jansen Schmidt, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, writing, tagged American Civil War, belfry, bell tower, canned foods, Civil War, clock tower, clocks, Colorado, General Grant, General Pemberton, historic Vicksburg, history, jewelers, Max Kuner, museum, old buildings, Old Courthouse Museum, old houses, siege of Vicksburg, VanKamps on March 25, 2019| 10 Comments »

As most of you know, I live in an old house. Almost 150 years old to be exact. I live in the historic “downtown” area of Vicksburg, most famous for the 47-day siege of 1863. If you’re not familiar with this epic historical event, shame on you, but here’s what you need to know: Ulysses S. Grant and his northern armies converged on Vicksburg, entrapping a Confederate army, lead by Lt. General John Pemberton, and hundreds of citizens for 47 days. (more…)

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Never Trust A Groundhog

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…)

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A Land and Sea Adventure

Posted in beach, beer, blogging, blooms, breakfast, Caribbean, cruise, Disney, Disney World, drinks, Family, food, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, travel, vacation, Walt Disney World, writing, tagged Bahamas, brunch, Caribbean, Castaway Cay, Cayman Islands, characters, clowning around, collages, Cozemel, Disney cruise, Falmouth, Good Hope Great House, Grand Cayman, Hell, islands, Jamaica, moonshine, photos, sangria on March 11, 2019| 8 Comments »

As you may remember, I mentioned earlier that I traveled not too long ago and, for subscribers to my newsletter, I also mentioned that I’d be blogging about my journey. At the very end of January we spent 3 days at Disney World (yes – again) followed by a 7-night Disney cruise. (more…)

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Some Days Are Hard

Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, Family, Fiction, food, friends, health, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, success, vacation, writing, tagged bacon, bad day, Baer House, Baer House Inn, burned bacon, candied bacon, Cooking, dinner, dinner party, dinner theater, distractions, food, having a bad day, phone, pilgrimage, salad, smoke, Vicksburg Pilgrimage, wedge salad on February 25, 2019| 14 Comments »

woman in bed You ever have one of those days when it feels like nothing is going right? You know the days I’m talking about, you get up on the wrong side of the bed or the planets don’t line up or whatever. This past weekend I had one of those days. It was more like two of those days in a row, but it just felt like I should crawl back into bed and stay there until, oh I don’t know, summer. (more…)

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Keeping It Creepy

Posted in blogging, Family, Fiction, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, Paranormal, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, watching tv, writing, tagged cemetery, Craigdarroch Castle, creepy, creepy places, fog, graves, haunted houses, haunted tours, Ione California, McRaven House, Merle Haggard, orbs, Preston Castle, Victoria British Colombia on February 18, 2019| 6 Comments »

I love to explore creepy places. Haunted houses are always cool, old dilapidated buildings at night, attics, basements, cemeteries in the fog, those kinds of places. I like to check out all the little nooks and crannies to see if there’s any hidden switches that open doorways to secret rooms. You know, the kinds of stuff you see on TV.

Photo courtesy Google Images

Here are some photos of some mysterious and supposedly haunted places I’ve had the privilege of exploring:

We’ll start with a local one. These pictures were taken on one of the nights I took the haunted tour over at the McRaven Tour Home here in Vicksburg

McRaven House Photo by P. Rickrode

MsRaven House Photo by P. Rickrode

McRaven House Photo by P. Rickrode

If you are interested in touring this fabulous house, and you should if you’re in Vicksburg, here is the link for more information https://www.mcraventourhome.com/

Next we’ll go to California, to a VERY small town called Ione in Amador County. One of the last places I visited before leaving California for Mississippi was Preston Castle. Here is a brief bit of information about Preston Castle:

In 1890, the California State Legislature purchased 230 acres from the Ione Coal & Iron Company for construction of the Preston School of Industry, a place where troubled boys could learn a trade instead of being incarcerated in juvenile prisons.

ione city limit The complex was highly self-sufficient; the large acreage of the purchase allowed the boys to grow their own food, raise livestock and learn farming trades. Additionally, there was a print shop, bakery and cobbler shop where the young delinquents and otherwise homeless boys could learn skills for self-preservation in the real world.

The school officially opened on June 13, 1894, and the first wards moved in only two weeks later. The superintendent controlled life inside the Preston School of Industry, where discipline was extreme. Loss of privileges seemed minor in comparison to starvation, isolation, and public paddling and lashings, severe strategies that were common at Preston.

Here are some of the photos from my tour:

Preston Castle Photo by P. Rickrode

For a brief time in 1954 country music legend Merle Haggard did time at Preston Castle for auto theft. For more information about Preston Castle click here: http://www.prestoncastle.com/

Next we’ll head up north to Victoria, British Columbia and take a peek at Craigdarroch Castle. The castle is a historic, Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to its landmark status in Victoria

Craigdarroch Castle Photo by P. Rickrode

Craigdarroch Castle Photo by C. Rickrode

Craigdarroch Castle Photo by P. Rickrode

All of these places are reportedly quite haunted although I never experienced anything supernatural while I was there. Quite a few of my photographs from Craigdarroch Castle have what appear to be orbs in them, but it might just be dust motes in the air. This one in particular is of interest.

Me and Corey on the grand staircase at Craigdarroch Castle.

I don’t know what that big cloudy bubble thing is near my hand but it darn near touched me. And, there are at least 3 more smaller orbs in this photo. Do you see them?

Anyway, if you’d like more information about this creepy cool place, here’s where you need to start: https://thecastle.ca/

So there you have it my friends, my nod to keeping it creepy in February. What creepy places have you explored? Do you like visiting haunted houses?

Word of the day: Zloty

Fun fact about me: I guess I live in a haunted house, at least that’s what people tell me.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, January 2019. Photos by P. Rickrode and Google Images.

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An International New Year

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 »

shaking hands 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…)