What really goes on behind the scenes!

Ok, this week is really getting on our nerves. First we have another snow storm! Have stopped counting how many this year because I no longer know or care how many we have had. All I know is that we have gone through 3 maintenance guys in the past two months! We are pretty well equiped with snowblowers and tractors as you may have seen in earlier blogg's. But we still have to get the snow off the roofs everytime there is an accumulation so... we start with the sidewalks, parking lots, barn, and then we tackle the roofs.

We have the maple pavillion, the Auberge, the stables, the garages and of course a couple of houses that the staff use. So wednesday night just before valentine's we have a full house and wake up to... you guessed it a foot of new snow. The plow has not opened our road, staff cannot get in to work, Gerry is out plowing the snow and linda is working the reception, baking muffins and serving breakfast, yes all at the same time!

Ok we get through that, our group checks out and our romantic couples check in for Valentine's which will last until Monday!!! This is what we have worked so hard for! Happy people joining us for happy occasions. What can go wrong???

The hot water tank (Which is only two years old by the way) springs a leak. No problem we have two!!! Shut down the broken one which we are happy to learn is still on guarantee, and no one will notice right?

Wrong! now we have hot water in our toilets and cold water only in the sinks! Call the plumber again and we are now Friday evening once again with a full house. You all know how much a plumber costs, right? Well would'nt you know that the tank that sprung a leak is behind the tank that is fine, so we need to remove the good tank to get to the broken tank... this of course means sawing pipes and reinstalling everything once again. You do realise that the cost of labor is much more expensive thant the cost of the tank right??? well I am finding that out real fast! The tank is on waranty but the labour is at our expense!

Now back to the snow. Our ground floor is completly snowed in. the snow has completly covered the windows. the snow banks are over 6 feet tall all around the building because of the snow that we have had to remove from the roofs. I have a question. What is going to happen in the spring? We have never had so much snow since the Inn was built in 1988. will the drains really be able to handle so much run off? we are on the side of a mountain so you would think no problem, well we are not so sure about that. if it starts to thaw quickly, the streams and drains may still be frozen and if the water follows the path of least resistance...

Meanwhile I have a group that will be coming next Sunday to enjoy the pleasures of winter. They want to curl on our pond and ski in our trails. I have to call them and tell them that we have too much snow and that we cannot get to the pond and that we are so busy shoveling we cannot groom the ski trails. we have 4 guys on maintenance five days a week and we cannot keep up! They are announcing another foot of snow for Monday, followed by rain Tuesday and Wednesday... I wonder if I will still have maintenance employees next week???

Stay tuned...