B&B Culture

Today was a busy day. I started off by doing a little to get the B&B going - just random touches around the house. There were christmas lights on the house from some people that stay here in the winter to help Frenchy out. After some deliberation the consensus was that they were tacky to leave up, especially since it's light out most of the time here. While Frenchy was out teaching I started to take them down. What a project. This house was WIRED. Not only were there about a million lights up, but they did a shoddy job putting them up. They were stapled right to the house, which is standard, but some were so tightly stapled that they actually cut through the rubber sheath on the lights, exposing the internal wires. Some of the extension cords had staples piercing right through the wires! The sheer number of lights coupled with the multiple exposed wires was such a fire hazard. Stupid people.

We also went over to another B&B that's closing up shop to pick up some stuff they were getting rid of. Mattresses, a fridge and some other odds and ends. This couple was just so nice. They had a beautiful place perched up on a hill with a great view over the coast, which features mountains, like every view here. They were quite an interesting pair. The husband was a retired chemistry teacher who plays 4 instruments. He told me all about how I can find places to look after for a living allover the world, which is what they'll be doing for a bit once they finish selling their house. The wife was this cute little woman that was really artistically inclined. It seemed like she did everything - sort of like a Martha Stewart, but more on the artsy side. They had sixteen grandchildren. Fourteen of them were from ONE SON! Half were his, half were adopted. As we looked over the pictures she joked, "it's like the united nations!" because the kids were from allover the world.

I love the way the B&B community is so tightly knit. They're a little family. Frenchy is supposed to go to some sort of meet and greet for B&B owners in Anchorage. I'm pretty sure I'm going. She said it's all about networking so she'd probably give me a stack of business cards and send me chatting. Sometimes I can be reserved in new situations, but if these other owners are anything like the ones I've met so far, I'll be golden. I suppose it's to the benefit of a B&B owner to be a welcoming personality. I'll have to work on being a welcoming individual for when I'm the lone hostess at the cabins in Sterling! Sometimes I can have a bit of a shell, but I'm thinking in this setting I'll do just fine and be able to toss the shell aside.

Oh, by the way! Turns out things are open later here in the summer when it's light out longer! Frenchy happened to mention something about it, which I was happy to hear because I meant to ask her about it anyway. They actually start the school year earlier, too, so that the kids aren't in school when it's light out really late because they find the kids are zombies then from being up late. As Frenchy said, people here live for the summer, so why not let them have it? The only thing that could make such a dark and snowy winter worthwhile is a beautiful light and bring summer, I guess. Some people get the best of both worlds and are seasonal residents - the ones that stick around are the true Alaskans. A breed of their own.

This is a very hairy place, but I'll write about that tomorrow. It deserves its own entry.