Travelling with Fido

Everyone loves to travel, including Fido. So as you pack up your family for your Holiday travels, here a a few tips for Fido:

1. DO remember his toys. Traveling is stressful for everyone and having Fido's favorite toy will help reduce his stress levels.
2. DO remember chew toys. When a dog gets anxious or bored it chews. A familiar chew toy or treat and Fido is more likely to ignore all the tempting new items in your room, like those antique chair legs. (Things that guest dogs have chewed at our Inn include chairs, antique dressers, wastebaskets, pillows, plants, curtains, towels, electric cords and phone books.)
3. DO remember his leash. Fido may be perfectly trained for you, but if you leave Fido unattended in your room and there is an emergency, your Innkeeper will need a leash to get Fido to safety.
4. DO bring copies of Fido's up-to-date vaccinations. Just as you get snippy and short-tempered when you are tired and stressed, Fido gets nippy and short-tempered too when he's tired, overexcited or insecure in new surroundings. You will probably never need them, but if a playful nip breaks the skin, those records could help keep Fido out of doggy jail.
5. DO spend time with Fido. If Fido's used to walking at a certain time then its better for everyone to keep that schedule. Regular walks and paying attention to the "Hey - I Gotta Go" dance will keep Fido content. Dogs react to different water and foods just like humans, and chances are Fido will be getting a few more table treats during the Holidays, which might just throw his whole system off.
6. DO inform the Innkeeper if Fido has an accident. Honesty is the best policy and an upfront "Gee, this happened in the room" is so much better than housekeeping walking into a mess. A wet spot on a carpet that sits will destroy the underlying wood and might result in the whole floor and carpet being destroyed. Likewise, doggy toothmarks on an 18th century cedar blanket chest can end up with you being charged the full value of the antique.

So, when you travel with Fido, bring his stuff, bring his treats, and give him the love and attention he wants. and he will repay you with more love and affection than you could ever imagine.

Have safe travels this Holiday Season!

Winter in Vermont

Snow covered hills, romantic sleigh rides, skiing, snowboarding, snowball fights, hot coco, warm fires...Those are just a few things people think about when they visualize Winter in Vermont. But Power outages?

Yup, we have them too!

Tuesday, sometime between 2 and 2:30 PM the power went out up here, affecting over 3,000 people, according to CVPS. That's not really a lot of people, but when its your home and business what do you do? Mom had been trying to order Christmas presents for the rest of the grand kids online, but no power = no DSL = no internet! Brian had been programming, but he has a UPS and had time to save, log out and shut down his computer safely. Me, I was just starting this blog and Poof! Into the ether with that!

Then the beeps and whoops and dings and jingles of all the electronic equipment clammering for attention and power, complaining that they were hungry for power. We silenced the bells and whistles we could and then realized just how quiet the Inn was without the humming of computers in the background. No bzzzz, no whirling fans, no clanks or clicks of farddrives updating themselves for whatever reason. For the first time, I could hear the fireplace gently crackling. The happily purring cats were the loudest sounds in the house.

But what to do? No TV. No video games. Can't microwave popcorn. If it was sunnier I could have read a book, but it was overcast and getting later. Soon the sun would be behind the mountains and night would be upon us at 5 PM.

About now, the dogs decided it was time for walkies, so I grabbed the leashes and off we went into the snowy field. We followed deer tracks to the apple trees and found half-eaten apples. We listened to pileated woodpeckers and others of the woodpecker family rat-a-tat-tatting on an old tree. We saw vole tracks through the snow and watched sparrows and chickadees eat from the goldenrod heads poking up through the snowbanks. I played Fetch the Snowball with two of the dogs while the third kept sniffling grass piles under the snow looking for mice and voles.

Eventually, we all came back to the Inn and put our wet socks and boots by the fireplace to dry. It was just 3:30 and still no power. I started to appreciate just how many windows a Victorian house has. Light was still filtering into all the rooms and the maid closet, with the candles and matches, had a full size window. So, with candles and lamps ready, we waited, and tried to figure out what to have for dinner.

The power returned at 4:30 with its chorus of dings and beeps, pings and crackles and computers loaded, fridges started and lights came on all over. Christmas decorations relit and I admired our tree once again with its simple white lights (all LEDs) and decorations dating back generations in the Great Room. Outside streetlights glowed and the gentle hum of the 21st century returned to the sleepy little village of Danby.