Linden Room Remodel

Well its been over two months and we are finally coming down to the final wire with the Linden Room remodel. For those of you who have stayed with us and in particuliar, rented the Linden room, may remember that it was the room across from the office. It is the second largest room in the Inn. It had a light tan and white design wall paper... old and sort of worn. The bathroom, which was the first bathroom in the house, had a yellow semi-modern bathtub from about the 1960's. Yellow 4 inch hexagon floor tiles, a forest green painted vanity, and a green print wallpaper. It also had a queen size bed.

The new look will sport the walls with chocolate colored walls, white trim and a new white crown ceiling molding. A new hand made king size bed that can be split into twins if needed will be the focal point of the room. If you remember the little carpeted foyer area that granted access to the bathroom, well it is not a part of the bathroom with new 12 inch tiles of multi-shades of tan, brown and cream colors. The foyer has had a shelf built in with a mirror and lights to provide a make-up area.

The tile scheme continues in the bathroom, on the floor is 12 inch tiles, in the new two person shower with dual shower heads and bench are 4 inch tiles and some smaller two inchers creating a border about 5 feet off the floor. A new 17 inch high toliet, so you do not feel like you are sitting on the floor to take care of business. The vanity is a brown colored wood cabinet with a white marble top. New lighting fixtures throughout the bathroom/makeup area.

I'm not sure what Doris has in store for curtains or drapes if anything. The TV is a new 17 inch, I believe, screen with DVD player. A new radio/clock with an iPod docking station will also be in the room, so for all of you who have those iPod machines... here you can play your customized song lists.

Overall, I must say the room looks darn good and very upbeat. As soon as I can get some pictures, I will post them which hopefully will entice some of you to rent it out.
Well, back to work. Talk with ya'all soon.
Gary

Carolina Beach & Butter

On Friday, Doris and I went to Carolina Beach for a relaxing two days. We left the Inn at about 11:00am and go to the condo about 1:30pm. Not a bad drive at all. Our neighbors have this one bedroom condo with a nice view of the ocean. They let us rent it for the two days since it was not rent that week, normally they rent it by the week. We had a great time relaxing watching the sun rise and in the evenings, the moon rise on the horizon. The last night, the moon was full and a beautiful reddish-orange ball just as it rose above the ocean horizon. Very peaceful looking.

Went into town and had a couple of good meals. We went to one restaurant called Bowman's. I was a little skeptical of the broiled flounder because the waitress explained that it was cooked in a microwave! Quite unusual for me... but I agreed to try it. It was good... not fabulous, but good and quite a large portion. The baked potato was good although the margarine is not my favorite topping. At least the sour cream was real.

That is one thing I do not get down here in the South... real butter is very hard to find. Everyone eats margarine. You would think in land of fat back, lard, bacon grease... you'd think that butter would be one of the major food groups in the South. I know many people think margarine is healthier for you, however, only the spreadable ones may be better than butter.... and I think there is more and more research coming out that shows that butter may be better if only from the stand point that it is naturally occurring. Yeah, it has to be churned, but margarine is nothing but a chemically processed food. Natural is more agreeable to the body than anything that is chemically altered or processed for consumption. I have to believe that Southerners used and even made their own butter years ago, but for some crazy reason, margarine has been in the majority of restaurants and even homes. We can only hope for the Good Olde Days. Today is Labor Day, a day to sit back and rest.... ironic, isn't it?!

EIGHT YEARS OF INNKEEPING

Doris and I celebrated being bed & breakfast innkeepers for eight years on September 1, 2009. Eight years! It really doesn't seem that long.... not when you are having so much fun! Yeah... right! Don't get me wrong, it has been at times fun, interesting, very rewarding, and exciting. But, it certainly has had its down periods.

Like ten days after we bought the Oakwood Inn, 9/11 hit us. Occupancy tumbled with the weekends generally full, but we lost all of our weekday business. I still wonder why the terrorits waited until Doris and I bought the Inn. Then we had some issues trying to get affordable healthcare insurance as small business owners. Government not putting their nose in operating health insurance... that is a joke here in North Carolina where some of our part-time lawmakers are insurance agents and others take funding from healthcare lobbyists.

Then we had to replace two of our three furnances and A/C units.... not all at once, in a reason span of 2 years. Then the guest who broke the foot of our sleigh bed... sitting on it. Heck, it was going to break.... what do you expect from old wood... it was an antique bed! And then the bride who threw up all over the room. Red wine can have different hues and shades when mixed with stomach acid.

And now we got hit with the Wall Street Fiasco which caused our occcupany to once again tumble but this time with longer and more devastating effects. And the list goes on and onm and will continue to do so. But so will the good list!

The upside in all of this is that we live in Raleigh, North Carolina where it is predicted that the recovery of the economy with be strong. We will be looking at an upward swing and people getting back to work. The state government is doing it's share. It just raised our sales tax from 6.75% to 7.75% to raise more money for more government programs creating more jobs... and it's only temporary. Right! The only thing polictians create as temporary is the lag time from constantly screwing the taxpapers.

But lets celebrate! Doris and I have achieved another milestone at The Oakwood Inn Bed & Breakfast as the longest staying innkeepers. The four sets before us stayed only an average of 4 years... we doubled it. Maybe because we are nuts and have lost all sense of intelliegence. Maybe because we have severe demenitia and forgot those bad times. Or maybe because the good outweights the bad and the potential for outstanding is always presence. Life only comes once around for a person. Enjoy it whenever you can.
Gary

Dogs Banned From Outdoor Dining - Raleigh

Here is our LeCouffee and Chimay (both named after Belgium beers) resting at Napper Tandy's on West Street. Napper Tandy's has a nice outdoor seating patio area.

Well, our county health department has gone n' done it now! Earlier this month (August 2009) they told restaurants that dogs are not allowed on the dining patio area. Dogs are not welcome to eat with their owners in an outside dining area! That is how the Wake County Health Department interpreted a very poorly written rule. You can read more about the rule in the Links section. Basically, the rule stated that dogs are not allowed in food preparation or storage areas. Now unless you are at a very fancy place where they are flamin' your food in front of you, or are planning on storing your food instead of eating it.... this rule does not apply to outside dining. Heck! It don't even apply to INSIDE DINING!

Apparently, the local newspaper, the News & Observer, ran a piece on pet-friendly restaurants. The county health inspectors who inspector out dining establishments, took it upon themselves to interpreted this rule to mean, Fido can not eat outside with the dog owners. Now, let's side step one bit. A couple of days before this article came out about the county enforcing this poorly written rule, a local radio station talked about how dog crazy Americans are where they treat their dogs like family... like children... maybe even better than family! Now knowing that, you can imagine the reaction of the public here in Raleigh... and I am not talking about the restaurant owners... but dog lovers. You would cause less ruckus by walking into a bar in the Deep South hosting a bunch of rednecks and yell, "Hey, what do you think about those Yankee boys winning that Civil War?" This was not a good move.

Evidently, it caused the County Attorney General to re-interpreted, or basically use the good old common sense and state that dogs could be in the outside dining areas at the discretion of the restaurant management.

I've included the Links to the N & O stories in chronological order if you are interested in reading about this.... good entertainment.

It never ceases to amaze me that government in all of its wisdom authority, wishes to protect us public from the evils of society, and they pick on something that is not broken.... not only that.. but something that is working well for everyone. It's like those at the top are trying to dominate us in every aspect of our lives, but in fact, make themselves look like fools. You have to wonder what is going through their minds picking a battle on such shaky ground.

www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1656168.html,
www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/1656793.html,
www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1661069.html

Memorable Reunion At The Inn - May 2009

On May 28, a memorable reunion was held at the Oakwood Inn Bed & Breakfast between the original first guests of the inn and the original Innkeepers from 25 years ago. Paul and Jean Higgins were the first guests that stayed at the Inn when it first opened on June 2, 1984. They were driving down from Virginia and stopped at a visitor center just into the North Carolina border. They asked the visitor center staff if there were any B & Bs in Raleigh. They told them that they just received information that one just opened that weekend. Paul and Jean continued on to Raleigh and registered as the first guests at the Inn.

An interesting side line on how all of this evolved is shared by Gary Jurkiewicz, one of the current Innkeepers. Gary read an old copy of the Raleigh Times given to him from Janet Wellman about two years ago. The article there was about the grand opening fo the Oakwood Inn Bed & Breakfast and had some facts about a couple who was coming in as the first guests of the Inn. I decided that during the 25th year anniversary we would try to get Chris, Steve, Donna and Oakley all together with the origin guests, once the original Inn Guest could be contacted about the anniversary. I wrote a short press release and sent it to the USA Today and ask if they could help find the original guests by publishing a story on it. Gary heard nothing from the newspaper.

Then as luck would have it, like in the movies. On the 25 of May, I received a call.

“Hi, I’d like to rent a room for Thursday, May 28.”
I said, “ Not a problem, do you know which room you would like?”
“Well, we’d like a room on the second floor, however, is the Polk room available.”
“Yes, it is,” I reply.
“That is the one my husband and I stayed in 25 years ago. We were the first guests that stayed at the Inn.”

Yeah, right, I thought. “Oh really, and when was that?”
“June second, I believe, it was the first weekend of June.”
She could be the one, or at least one of the first guest if there were more than one couple, I thought, I asked a couple more questions, and decided that Jean and Paul, must be one of the original guests. I then promptly called the four innkeepers and asked if they could come to the inn on Thursday and have a little reunion, Chris, Oakley, and Donna all agreed to come. I then wrote the N & O and they agreed to come out and do a story. The rest just fell into place.

The Innkeepers at the time were Oakley and Donna Herring, Chris Yetter and Steve Zamparelli, and Donna’s mother, Olive Colman. Back on that momentous day, Oakley and Donna were there to greet the couple at the Oakwood Inn B & B. Twenty five years later on May 28, 2009, Chris Yetter, and again Oakley and Donna Herring welcomed Paul and Jean to the Oakwood Inn, along with the current innkeeper Doris Jurkiewicz. As soon as they all saw each other, they quickly recognized each others face, and June 2, 1984 was reborn once again. Hand shakes and warm greetings were exchanged. Everyone introduced themselves, including Josh Shaffer the writer from the News & Observer. Josh took copious notes and listened to the stories and memories shared by the two guests and three innkeepers. He heard how Donna made dinner and asked for Paul and Jean to join her and Oakley. Later, Doris Jurkiewicz took everyone on a tour of the Inn which again had Innkeepers sharing stories from back when the Inn first opened.

After an hour or so of reminiscing, Paul opened a bottle of champagne which he brought to celebrate the occasion. As was stated in the recent N & O article, Oakley said that after they sold the inn, he didn’t think the new owners would be able to make it work. Business was bad and the Inn not profitable. Eventually the Inn was sold to Vera and Jim Cox who worked the inn for 4 years until they sold it to Billy and Darlene Smith. Billy and Darlene ran the inn in 1996 and sold it to Doris and Gary Jurkiewicz. Gary and Doris are the longest running innkeepers of the Inn. The others were on an average four years for each group.

When you realize that many B & Bs are just people’s homes that are rented out to strangers, and many innkeepers just seem to handle the pressure for about 4-7 years. Many B & Bs, close down or return back to personal residences after a short run. Those that run longer maybe go about 10-15. But to make it 25 years, is a major achievement according to the Professional Association of International Innkeepers. The Oakwood Inn be has made it this far. Hopefully it will go on to see its 50h… golden anniversary. Doris and I hope we are here to see that accomplishment….. and, I doubt we will be the innkeepers , but we we’ll have the glowing pride that Chris,Donna and Oakley had on May 28, 12009.

Remodeling Offers Specials for the Summer

TO SPEND MONEY OR NOT TO SPEND MONEY.........
Renovation. Remodel. Make it look better. Face Lift! That is what Doris and I are doing for the Inn. Spending money. I wish we would have maybe put the Inn on the market two years ago and sold it to get our retirement money out, but we felt that Doris could handle the Inn for a least a couple of more years. Because of the Wizards of Wall Street, she will probably be an innkeeper at the Oakwood Inn for at least another 5 years; unless someone comes along and offers us an amount that we can not refuse. But that’s another story.

We had a B & B consultant come in the middle of May 2009 to help us assess what we need to do, if anything. He was Peter Scherman of the B & B Team of Virginia, www.bbteam.com. We called him because we have heard him talk at various B & B Conferences and seminars. He’s always made sense to us, and we have had a couple of individual one-on-one talks with him. We sort of knew him and he knew us. We trusted him. And that was important to us. We could afford his fee, and that was important to him! So I called him in mid-April and asked him to help us with a basic overview.

Peter came out in mid-May and stayed almost two days with us. He gave us quite a bit of information and suggestions; some of which we all ready knew. I guess we just needed to be assured that we were on the right track, especially when it comes to spending money in these very hard economical times where money is tight… tighter than a Victorian corset!

Peter said that he thought we were the most Victorian looking Inn on the coastal states area. I took that as a compliment, but he felt that some of the décor needed an upgrade.
Peter Scherman felt that some of the furniture was uncomfortable for reading a book for 2-3 hours. I could agree about the furniture, but who reads a book for 3 hours? Computer games and surfing the net for about six, yeah!

Than came the comments about some of the bathrooms. Plumbing needs a upgrade, maybe fancy showers and tubs. Showers that feel like a soft rain fall, massaging the scalp and relaxing the muscles… the kind that has a shower head the size of a car tire and uses about 50 gallons of water per second. Maybe something guests like, but in Raleigh and the surrounding area, may not go over very well with the Raleigh Water Guard. Raleigh is in water restrictions now and probably for the rest of its life, due to some very severe droughts in the last eight years. Go to Raleigh.com and just look up water conservation. Hotels, motels, and Bed & Breakfasts have to install water saving shower heads… those that allow 1 gallon per 24 hours or less. Actually, if you can just shower with no water and just use a dry towel and “sand paper” the dirt off your body, that would be acceptable. In reality, you can shower using water, just use it with conservation in mind.

In the next article, I will explain how we proceeded.

But by the way, check out our website, oakwoodinnbb.com for a summer special due to the remodeling…. Stay two consecutive nights at regular price and get the third night free! A great deal in today’s economy for saving money!

NC Legislature and Taxes on Services

State Lawmakers feel the need to tax services because they can not figure out where to make budget cuts. They have no idea where the inefficiently ran programs are, nor have any idea how to stop wasteful spending. They could start by firing themselves.

So in their great wisdom, they take the easy way out by generating revenue with a law that would create a new tax on certain services. Now mind you, they said that they would not raise taxes. In fact, they plan on lowering the personal income tax 0.25%! I believe the real thrust behind lowering the income tax, is because issuing a new tax in new chartered waters may give them more money than what they could use. A State government raising more money than what it needs? Ridiculous! Give the meddling morons 24 hours with the lobbyists and special interest groups, and they will have the excess spent faster than my wife and five daughters in a one hour shopping spree at Macy’s! Actually, my wife and daughters would do better because they constantly seek out sales. The only thing politicians sell are their souls to the devil.

Since these highly educated individuals can not figure out Zero-Base Budgeting, they should consider apply this new tax on ALL services. Why not just tax all services at a much lower and reasonable rate like 1%, and then the burden is applied to everyone on all services. If you get $100 in car repairs, it will be an extra $1 for the service tax. If you pay a white-collar professional a $1,000, it comes out to $10. Blue collar services are taxed just as white collar so everyone pays. If government would tax the red collar services like prostitution, heck… we could probably knock off the Federal deficient in a few months…. and that would be just from many of the Federal politicians having to pay this tax for this service.

Taxing all services at a lower rate seems to be more equitable than just applying a 4% sales tax on certain select services of the Lawmakers’ choice. Gosh… with their choice… prostitutes… oops… I mean escort services... not to be confused with the Secret Service; would never be taxed. Although, both of these services are usually provided for in secret… more on a Federal level. Man, I am getting off the real subject here.

Taxing all services in the Grand Olde State of North Carolina, would be more equitable and fair to all tax payers. Of course, those white-collar professionals will complain that the extra costs will drive clients away, and their businesses will suffer and they could be out of work. But don’t worry! They can always get a job as a Legislator, because the current ones will be out come election time!

Related Links......

News & Observer News article, June 23, 2009: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1579697.html

Tax Spa Services: http://www.skininc.com/spabusiness/regulations/49206152.html