Fall in the Texas hill country
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
November 4, 2009. I’m looking out my wall of windows toward the back of our hill country property at deer and llamas and a beautiful sunrise. It’s been a great fall recently, as we got a lot of rain earlier, and are now enjoying the 75 degree sunny days and chilly nights. Yes, we like chilly nights here in the hill country after we suffer through a summer with day after day of 100 degrees or better.
Our bed and breakfast, or inn, whatever you want to call it is located at about 1500 feet of elevation in the country outside of Fredericksburg, Texas. We have twelve guest accomodations and a full-service restaurant that serves both breakfast and dinner. We are open for dinner to people who are not guests of the inn, by reservation. We’ve been at this about 11 years (we got so busy, we’ve never figured out when we began) and have built this business a little at a time. We opened with just four suites in the upstairs of the main building (we had our own little house behind the main building that we lived in), and we served a continental breakfast. It has been a big struggle from the beginning. When we first began, everyone told us that no one wanted to stay in the country and they wanted to be right downtown in the middle of main street. I do think there are some people for whom this is true, but we thought there was a market for people who just wanted to escape to the country and we think we’re right about that. It’s really peaceful and quiet out here, and I think that it gives our guests a chance to re-connect with and between themselves. I had a woman come up to me a couple of months ago and tell me that when they came to Rose Hill they were about to separate and probably divorce, but after stepping away from the world for a couple of days, they made great strides in repairing their marriage. I think sometimes we all get so caught up in the hectic world we live in, there is no time to treasure the ones we’re supposed to care about most. Who knows…?
Anyhow, now we’re deep into this business we’ve built, and have to deal everyday with running a small business in America (in the middle of a recession – ouch!). I have to laugh at our politicians who says they “feel our pain”. I’m wondering when was the last time they mowed a lawn, fixed a toilet, did the laundry, made beds, etc.. I’ve made it my personal policy to never vote for anyone who hasn’t owned their own business or had to worry about “making the payroll”. We have 8 employees and we are the primary source of income for their families and our biggest worry is trying to keep them employed. Sometimes I think I worry about it more than they do!
Got to go make breakfast!
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