The Resort Years - 9

WEATHER

You would think that with a name like WEATHERS, we would have a clue or maybe some extra pull in the weather department.  Not likely!  We are both pilots and know which websites have the actual satellite photos of the western/incoming weather, but more than that – JUST PRAY!  We are now into the third drought cycle in the twenty years at The Rivers Resort.  Droughts traditionally last three years, and we are on year THREE!  Not a good omen for this winter’s ski business.  Whenever this happens the rumors start about Dodge Ridge “not even opening!”  There must be an actual line or two in their contract regarding “no snow” winters…don’t know, have no access to their contract!  Like the owners of Dodge Ridge we are just in the “wait and see” mode! 

In the past we have had very dry Januarys and then monstrous storms once they start!   Our last monstrous winter was the year that we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary – 2011 – when Tom had to be in Kansas City MO for two weeks of seminary and we decided to drive it, despite both being SICK with head colds as we left California.  Then since we were more than halfway across the country, after the two weeks at seminary we drove to Virginia to see where Kathleen, our daughter, was working at Joy Ranch Children’s Home. Dodie was the office assistant in charge of incoming guests and the Post Office, while Mark was the maintenance person in charge of the snowblower and shoveling!!

Dodie was a jewel of an assistant.  She lived here in Strawberry so was able to be “feet on the ground” when necessary.  She had a daughter, and was able to bring her to work.  She had worked the winter at Dodge Ridge and was happy to have a part time job following that full time endeavor.  Her husband also worked at the ski area and at the campgrounds that Dodge Ridge managed in the summer.  She worked for us for a couple of years and then HER husband took a job back in Louisiana where they had a family home that they could live in cheaply.  We sure hated to lose her, but wished her well and keep track of her growing daughter on Facebook.

It snowed the entire month of January in 2011.  When we returned the cabins couldn’t even “dump” the snow from their roofs as the berms were so high from the previous snow falls.  They all looked like snow banks with snow from the decks up to the deck railings six to eight feet from the ground level!!  A lot of snow!  While I doubt that we get THAT much this Winter into Spring, I certainly pray that we get a winter or the water situation will be horrid this summer.

I told Tom the other day - winter of 2013/2014 - that we should put away the shovels and the snow blower and maybe by NOT being prepared the weather will change!!  He DID IT!  Hey, anything is worth a try.  We are going down for a doctor’s appointment tomorrow – maybe we should wash the car!! 

UPDATE - Dodge Ridge was able to open in 2014, but forced to close after just five weeks due to the lack of snow!!

“We have been your customers for YEARS!”

We never did decide at the INN if it was better to encourage return business or to turn them over like the proverbial “hotcakes!”  Return guests feel entitled to ignore the rules, argue any cleaning charges, and tell all of their friends how awful their stay was.  Now with the “social media” people can tell all their MILLIONS of “followers” instead of the 200 close acquaintances that most people can boast.   The 200 was, at one time, the standard number of wedding / death notices that the printer supplied; now with Yelps.com you can tell the whole world about “the manager who was so rude, she needs to find another job!”   The new hip helped the attitude a LOT, and that particular guest has even returned to see the “new me!”  He is easier to spot than I am – he has dread locks and tattoos from neck to fingertips!!  I just have 15 fewer pounds and an invisible NEW HIP with smile to show for it!!

It continues to amaze me that there are people who CARE what you think about anything?  Seems so if you even glance at the “comments” on news stories, we have become a nation of voyeurers, peeping Toms, and self-absorbed folks who never think of the good of the whole, only their personal “good!”    Mom used to say: “Don’t believe anything you hear, only half of what you see, and nothing you read in the newspaper.”  I would insert the internet!  So why did I start a blog?  MountainMartha.blogspot.com - That would have been the encouragement of the Tech Guy in the Real Estate Office five years ago!  It didn’t seem to help my Real Estate business, but that was 2008 when “the bubble” burst, the banks that were “too big to fail” or supported the correct political party, got bailed out with the taxpayers IOUs to China.

The title of REALTOR arrived with Tom’s calling to be a pastor ten or eleven years ago.  He had experienced a spiritual growth spurt when we had a “Share Jesus” Mission in our little church in Tuolumne.  He took a ClayM class and decided if GOD opened any doors he would give up on computers (after beating his medicated head against that “brick wall” for nearly five years) and progress to congregations as a pastor. 

Still having the responsibilities at THE RESORT, I wondered how we would handle that if he was sent to “do desert time” in greater Ely, NV or Battle Mountain, NV, from whence our new pastor had just come.  We even detoured through Battle Mountain to find the church and checkout the parsonage on the way home from a trip to Colorado!!  But, “GOD would provide,” said I.

Thinking I could cover the cost of hiring help at THE RIVERS RESORT I took the Real Estate Licensing course, passed, and got a desk at one of the local offices.  That lasted three or four months until the broker’s daughter passed the test and took my desk.  So, just like the medical Transcription, I went door to door attempting to land another broker.  No one wanted the liability of my property management side-business even though it was under Tom’s Corporation – ComputerVan Inc…  You do not have to be a Realtor to manage vacation rentals; the owner of a cabin can ask their next-door neighbor to be their agent, no training required!  I checked with the legal department of California Association of Realtors twice when brokers have questioned the advisability of my dual occupations.

I met a lot of interesting people – good and bad – in the three Real Estate offices I worked in.  Meanwhile, encouraging my owners to make improvements to their cabins to increase their occupancy!  My monthly newsletters included improvements made to various cabins, dropping the names of owners who had used their cabins that month and information about changes we made to the common area – steps where there was once a drainage ditch, planting flowers, putting FREE chipped bark around to keep the dust down following a water meter project.

About the time we decided to move to the parsonage in Sonora, on the hill above the Court House, one of the mountain folk had a seizure while at work in Cold Springs and was told she couldn’t work for six months to see if any seizures would recur.  So, of course, she could move into Unit #1 and keep an eye on things, picking up parts of the office routine, and the Post Office routine as she felt able.  At some point we should have agreed as to how much work she could apply toward the use of the apartment – Unit #1…

Carolanne the Hostess!

We received a call late one evening that the guests for one of our “off-site” cabins could not get to the cabin on the slippery, icy road.  There were three to four feet of snow on the ground, but steps had been shoveled for their access and the driveway plowed.  Despite the note on the website that chains or 4x4 would be required in the winter, they “assumed” that since the highway had no chain requirement, they could come in their roomier vans.  Even with their chains they were unable to get to the cabin.  We drove up from Sonora in the Subaru Outback and ran at least six trips from the office parking lot to the cabin shuttling them and all their STUFF to the cabin.  Meanwhile, Carolanne entertained the remainder of the party in the Office in her robe and fuzzy slippers.  Not a night we will soon forget!!

She did a good job at “my job” and I was able to be a Pastor’s wife in Sonora, and a REALTOR in Twain Harte and then with Sugar Pine Realty in East Sonora, a grandmother, and still do the books for the owners of the cabins at the RESORT.   Carolanne has the perfect personality for dealing with “the public” – she is gregarious and anxious to please.  She lived in Unit #1 and did “my job” for 3 ½ years!   I would recommend her or Samantha to any “new owner” who comes along. 

After five years of working Real Estate the market had crashed, and I had to “take my management job back” from Carolanne and get some income from Unit #1.  It created quite a stir in the neighborhood since Carolanne was well-liked.  She had several adventures while living in Unit #1, but I will leave them for “her book!” Hey, life is what happens while you are making other plans.  Her daughter in Elk Grove and the three grand daughters needed her at that time, not to mention her sister in the Bay Area!  I joined her in prayer for BOTH situations.   The situations did resolve and she has moved back to the mountains that we both love; we are friends again.  THANK GOD!