Posted in alcohol, beach, beer, blooms, Caribbean, eating, Family, food, humor, Jansen Schmidt, reading, romance, travel, vacation, weather, writing, tagged Antigua, Barbados, Celebrity Cruises, Celebrity Silhouette, cruises, cruising, excursions, Nevis, party boat, Southern Caribbean, St John, St Kitts, St Lucia, touring on May 23, 2022| 6 Comments »
I’m being lazy this week. Well, not lazy so much as strapped for time. It’s been a busy week and in my “spare” time I’ve been relaxing because I’m exhausted by the time I have “spare” time. And, by relaxing, I mean, I clean out the dishwasher, fold the laundry, set the table for breakfast, and make dinner for my family. Those are my “relaxing” chores. I don’t actually have time to fully relax by definition of the word.
(more…)Posted in authors, blogging, books, bucket list, cats, cruise, Family, food, history, Jansen Schmidt, reading, travel, vacation, weather, writers, writing, tagged 6-toed cats, American Civil War, Civil War, Civil War monuments, Clinton Square, Ernest Hemingway, Fort Zachary Taylor, Hemingway cats, Key West, Key West Florida, Little White House, monuments, thunderstorms, US Presidents on March 14, 2022| 8 Comments »
Have you ever visited somewhere and wished you could stay a bit longer because there was so much more to see and do than you realized? I have. Quite often in fact. One of those places is Key West, Florida. I had the privilege of visiting there several years ago and found it fascinating, especially the history. We arrived by cruise ship and spent the day on foot exploring as much of the island as our time allowed.
(more…)Posted in Baer House Inn, Family, goals, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, success, weather, writing, tagged antebellum home, construction, fix-ups, home improvement, home ownership, home projects, home repairs, maintenance, math, old houses, renovations, repair man, wet rot on October 25, 2021| 6 Comments »
We live in an old house. 151 years old to be exact. It’s neat. It’s big. It’s drafty. It’s solid. It requires a lot of love and patience. It’s not perfect. But . . . it’s ours.
(more…)Posted in Baer House Inn, Family, food, friends, gratitude, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, money, positivity, success, travel, Vicksburg, weather, writing, tagged bad luck, Baer House, displaced, electricity, evacuation, evacuees, good luck, haven, Hurricane Ida, hurricanes, innkeeping, Louisiana, lucky, Mississippi, no electricity, running water, safe place, storm damage, storm shelter, utilities on September 6, 2021| 8 Comments »
The best advice, when life hands you lemons, is to make lemonade. Not always an easy thing to do. Well, I’ve been handed some lemons. Lots of lemons. Cancellations have been flooding in – AGAIN. Between school starting, this new covid variant, and threats of violent weather, people were opting not to travel to Vicksburg. August is usually our month of European travelers. But, we all know they are still forbidden to travel to the US. So . . . . here we sit. Again. With a houseful of empty rooms and a lap full of lemons.
(more…)Posted in Baer House Inn, blogging, eating, Family, food, friends, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, weather, writing, tagged bad weather, evacuations, flooding, hurricane, Hurricane Ida, hurricanes, Ida, natural disasters, rain, storm preparations, storms, tropical storm on August 30, 2021| 13 Comments »
It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m sitting in my office looking outside wondering why more people aren’t out enjoying this picture-perfect day. It is absolutely gorgeous out right now. Sunny, not too hot, light breeze out of the south. It’s delightful porch-sitting, iced tea sipping weather. Except for that darned old weather forecast, I’d say it’s a downright perfect day. Hurricane? What hurricane?
Posted in Baer House Inn, blogging, food, gratitude, humor, innkeeping, inspiration, Jansen Schmidt, motivation, positivity, Vicksburg, weather, winter, writing, tagged bird food, bird watching, birds, cold, cold weather, deep south, freezing, freezing temperatures, Frozen, ice, icicles, inspiration, lessons, life lessons, Mississippi winter, sharing, shelter, winter, winter storm on March 1, 2021| 9 Comments »
The deep south recently experienced a winter storm for the record books. It wreaked havoc on millions of people in various ways. I was shocked and amused at the same time at how ill-prepared the state of Mississippi is for this type of event. The entire town essentially just shut down. Our mail didn’t get delivered for an entire week. An ENTIRE week! All the government offices were closed. Most restaurants were closed. Even the grocery stores and casinos (which never close) were closed. Hotels along the interstate were overflowing because the highway was shut down and people were stranded. It was epic.
(more…)Posted in April, Baer House Inn, beach, Birthdays, dessert, desserts, eating, Family, food, friends, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, laughter, spring break, travel, vacation, Valentine's Day, Vicksburg, weather, writing, tagged appetizers, cold, freezing, freezing temperatures, gross foods, Groundhog, ice, ice storm, icy roads, main course, meals, snow, spring, strange food, sunshine, winter on February 22, 2021| 6 Comments »
I think we can all agree that 2020 was not the year any of us expected it to be. Unless the conspiracy theorists are right and somebody did viciously release the coronavirus on purpose, then that person(s) had an epic year. But, it for sure was a pretty crappy year for the majority of the populace.
Posted in Autumn, Baer House Inn, breakfast, dogs, eating, Family, food, friends, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, pets, positivity, resolutions, sports, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, weather, writing, tagged B&B, bed and breakfast, breathe, fresh air, inns, Mississippi, no masks, normal, open, open for business, opening up, precautions, regular, respectful, sunshine, travel on October 5, 2020| 14 Comments »
I knew it was going to happen. At some point it was bound to. But, I wasn’t really ready for it to happen quite so quickly. Slowly the country is phasing back into normal operating procedures. We’ve been getting a few more reservations over the past few weeks. But, I don’t know what happened the last three weekends. BAM! Full houses every Friday and Saturday night. Just like that. No warning. The phone kept ringing and the I kept saying “come on.”
(more…)Posted in April, blogging, Family, friends, goals, health, humor, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, travel, Uncategorized, weather, weird, weird facts, writing, tagged clocks, Daylight Savings Time, jet lag, loss of sleep, random, sleep, spring, spring forward, time, time change, tired on March 9, 2020| 8 Comments »
I’m all messed up. Daylight Savings always affects me, no matter if we’re springing forward or bouncing back. Losing sleep, gaining sleep, whatever, my body always feels like I’ve traveled across several time zones, slept 3 hours in each before moving on, sometimes forward, sometimes back. And it doesn’t help that I just returned home 3 days ago from a different time zone. I spent almost 2 weeks one-hour ahead of my normal zone, returned to my regular zone, then sprang ahead for Daylight Savings. I’m all mixed up. I feel like I need sleep all the time. (more…)
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…)
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