Grand opening July 23 - You're invited!

I would like to say that Dawn and I drew up a list of everything that still needed to be accomplished, set down a reasonable timetable, built in sufficient contingency, and then selected an opening date. However, we more or less just threw a dart at a calendar and came up with July 23.

Please come by that Sunday for an 'open house,' any time from 10am to 6pm, to see what we've been up to for the past three years. There will also be tours of the wolf sanctuary, although there is a charge for that. Tell your friends (especially the ones that work at newspapers, TV stations, magazines, colleges, and local businesses).

We're also taking reservations now for July 24, with the assumption that we will get our occupancy permit in early July.

That gives us seven weeks, although the remaining tasks look more like seven months: Finish painting; finish the floors; install all plumbing and lighting fixtures; re-upholster the furniture; build the kitchen island; install blinds, storm windows, and shutters; set up phones, cable TV, fire alarm; replace basement doors; and make glass tops for all the furniture. That doesn't include the Summer Kitchen, which needs a door, seven windows, plaster, paint, a heat pump, a fireplace, kitchen cabinets, lights and plumbing fixtures. Oh, and resurface the driveway, which is 500 feet long.

Plus, we need to buy 5 mattresses, 2 armoires, 2 chairs, a secretary, a day bed, kitchen bar stools, 12 sheet sets, 36 towels, a stove, washer and dryer, a commercial dishwasher, a pool table, exterior lighting, a sign, 4 hairdryers, and luggage racks. Then there's the new web site, online marketing, a credit card account, a AAA inspection, insurance, guest tracker software, reservation forms, room diaries...

And even after we're open, we'll still be working on the Paymaster's Office, privy, and the chicken coop. (Yes, I still want to restore the chicken coop.)

However, an impossible timeline is just an incentive, and Dawn is confident that anything that's not finished by July 23, she can hide. Besides, once we're open, we won't be able to give tours except through the local historical societies, so...

Please bring your classic car -- I want to re-create this photo from 1955