Corona Virus, DJT, Inn Projects

Hi All,

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. Covid19 has decimated my business, as many other businesses.  I am lucky to already have a business line of credit it has saved me.  I like Governor Wolf, although as in any relationship, there’s things he does that I don’t like.  He just did something I don’t like, but am OK with.it. He added another layer of protection saying Pennsylvanians need to wear a face mask when out in public.  Has anyone tried to get a box of face masks lately?  It’s like that idiot in Washington that says he takes “absolutely no responsibility for the pandemic sweeping America-(to emphasize his point he added)” “0”.  After showing his ignorance of our constitution he said he was going to direct the re-opening of America.  He has no the authority, but the governors do.  After media exposed this “fake news” of his, he has since changed his tune, saying he’s going to give guidance for the governors to re-open their states.  One of the things he’s telling the governors to do is to Covid19 tests to see concentrations of infection.  Yet he’s not providing test kits or forcing drug companies to make them available.  Governor Wolf, you have a good idea on the masks, but please do the other side as well make masks available for us.  One more thing on Governor Wolf, why did you let the State Stores close for so long?  If the restaurants switched to “take out only” why did it take so long for the State Store system to implement it?  besides the inconvenience for me driving to another state for my Scotch, PA lost tons of needed income.

Keep reading, I have a quote that I had posted on my personal Fb page that attracted a lot of attention.  I know some people follow my blog but are not on Fb (Tony & Sue for example).  It is from my good friend Judy in West Palm, a good person to follow and a great human being.  I don’t care what you had for dinner, or problems you’ve had getting your hair done or other such.  No hard feelings about people posting this kind of stuff, but I like posts like this:

I don’t know if you agree, but something invisible came and put everything in its place.
Suddenly the gasoline went down, pollution went down, people started to have more time – so much time that they do not know what to do with it – parents are spending time with their kids as a family, work is no longer a priority, or traveling or social life either.
Suddenly we silently see within ourselves and understand the value of the words “solidarity”, “love”, “strength”, “empathy” and “faith”.
In an instant we realized that we are all in the same boat; rich and poor. That the supermarket shelves are empty and the hospitals are full.
New cars and old cars also stand in the garages, simply because nobody can get out.
Empty streets, less pollution, clean air, the land also breathes.
The human returns to his origins, realizing that with or without money, the important thing is to survive.
Today, health is the main thing, even in spite of wanting to have or possessing.
It took 6 days for the universe to establish the social equality that was said to be impossible.
Fear invaded everyone.
At least this happened to realize the vulnerability of the human being.
Nature is forcing us to clean up the mess made by ourselves.
Our overthrown gods:
-Money
-Sports
-Fame
-Politics
What the coronavirus is teaching us:
-Our best protection: GOD
-Our best refuge: HOME
– Our best company: FAMILY
– Our real time: TODAY
– Nature’s call: STOP US
– Its message: WAIT, RESPECT
We are not gods, we are not kings, we do not have the power of controlling everything.
We are part of a whole, fragile, brittle and vulnerable something.
Part of a whole something that we wanted to dominate & today is telling us:
Stop, breathe, respect.
Go back to the basics, to the essentials, that the peace of your soul guide you towards what you are:a CREATION.
Well said. God bless us all.
I copied this from someone else’s wall because indeed this is the reflection that we must have TODAY!!!

I’ve had time, finished the ballroom project and just finished Lady Palm’s bathroom floor.I see all the flaws, but it looks so much better.  Here’s the before I had posted:of the floor:before:

And here it is now:

Spring is here, my gardens are growing by leaps and bounds, here’s this morning when I was having my morning tea and reading my current book:

And here’s a close up of my just emerging banana trees-this makes me excited:

Also, I’ve been working on cleaning my concrete porch and bricks in the parking lot.  My friend Jeff that owns The Inn on the Mexican War Streets has let me borrow his pressure washer again (he did last year and I didn’t do such a good job-I’m much happier this year-I learned how to use it).

I hate OTA’s (Online Travel Agencies like booking.com, Expedia Group, etc).  They charge us a 15% commission on bookings.  They claim they need to, to keep their website secure and to pay for advertising.  Yo OTA’s I pay less than 5% to my credit card processor!   Your security costs can’t be more than Visa. MasterCard and AMEX and I’ve never seen you advertise on the Super Bowl.  I do advertise on the OTA’s for a couple of reasons, one we call the “bill board effect” the more times someone sees your name the more legitimate they see you as.not to mention the internet god Google likes it.  Because of their fees, I charge the OTA’s $15 more than if you book on my website.  Also, when a guest books through an OTA, at check-in I explain the “up charge” and how it’s less expensive (I don’t use the word cheaper-that’s for Airbnb people). Because of the hit my business has taken during this time, I am running a special through the OTA’s $100+ a night rooms.  I think I just booked a small wedding for the beginning of May, the reason I’m saying I think is John has not made the reservation through my reservation system yet, until I get that, I won’t block the rooms out.  John sounds like he really wants to book, but until I get his reservation.  The cancellations have slowed to a trickle (and the dreaded refunds-I’m over $6,000.00 in two months).  The reason for this narrative is this wedding was booking 8 of my rooms for two nights and I had planned on dropping my “rack” rate from $170 to $125 the same as my OTA special..My OTA special included $100+ week night rooms.  When I spoke with John, he was talking about adding Thursday for some of the rooms and he asked me about the rate and if I could do better.  I realized he had seen my OTA weekday rate on the internet god Google and realized I was not being fair to my regular guests and so I just added the $125+ weekend rate and $100+ weekday rate to my website, so if you want a bargain (less expensive, not cheap)  🙂  through the end of June, come and see me by booking from my website.  Da gerl misses you.

PA restaurants are still closed for dining but Nicyi’s Thai Kitchen, Pepis and Giorgios (their site seems to be temporarily  down) are all offering take out and you’re welcome to eat in my Inn or out in the courtyard.

Be well, safe and smart,

ed