Finally - some work on the Tower wall

If you've been following us this week, you know that our main reason for being in Gatlinburg this week was to get the west wall windows and siding replaced at Smoky Mountain Tower. God used the weather to stop that process for the first 3 days of the week. Yesterday and almost today, it was previous commitments by our contractor.

But at the last minute - almost 5:00 pm - David and Shawn arrived. Because we have guests arriving tomorrow, the best they could do was to really caulk those windows and surrounding area with a LOT of caulk.

The real tough part was reaching the windows. For the right and center windows, Shawn just hopped up on the railing.


That window on the left, though, is a tough one. But David came up with an idea - remove the inside lower window and get to it that way!


Then Shawn leaned out the opening and was able to caulk that top left window.


If you look carefully, you'll see David holding on to Shawn's belt loops to keep him from falling!


It's a good thing - because the next stop is about 40 feet down. After Shawn got everything caulked, they put the window back together and even moved the sofa-sleeper back to its right position.


Well, that's where we are. Our contractor, Ray, says this should hold us until they can get back and do the whole job. We're praying he is right! But he has promised to come back and fix any future leaks.

Tomorrow is the annual meeting for the Chalet Village Owners Club - and then we head for home. It's been a much busier week than we expected, but we got a lot more done. And it's all for the comfort and enjoyment of our guests. If you haven't been here, we hope you'll come and see it all first-hand!

The west wall at Smoky Mountain Tower - the saga continues

It was a beautiful day in Gatlinburg - just perfect for working outside. But last night was anything but pretty - especially up in the north part of Sevier County. We had about a dozen tornado warnings and some areas got very large (baseball-sized) hail. So our contractor, Ray, had a bunch of emergencies today. That means we aren't going to get the whole job of fixing the west wall finished - probably until sometime in August or September.

However, Ray has promised me that he will have a couple of guys here tomorrow to "do what it takes" to stop the west Tower windows from leaking. Oh yeah, when the last storm hit last night about 12:30 am, the water was really pouring in. It didn't come in the new windows, but around the upper triangle-shaped windows. Remember this picture?

The rectangle windows are fine. It's those pesky ones above that are causing the problem. So, we'll try again tomorrow - which is the last day we can really do anything for several months! But that's okay - it will work out.

Meanwhile, I mentioned yesterday that we got some other things done. One you will really love is the new shower curtain rod in the main bath. It's one of those new curved ones that gives more room.


And Phyllis has worked her decorating magic in the Queen Bedroom. Take a look at the new bed covering!


That's not all. We spent a good part of the day at All Decked Out. Wait til you see the new curtains in the main room, and the bed covering in the the main bedroom. If you want to see what we've accomplished at All Decked Out in the past couple of days, check out our "What's New" list at our Web site. We'll get pictures loaded in the next couple of days.

What a day - in Gatlinburg!

In case you're wondering why we didn't post yesterday, it's because there wasn't anything of major importance to report.

That all changed today! This is the day the weather forecasters predicted "some storms." As of tonight, we've had everything from very hard rain, to lots of heavy wind, to beautiful calms and clear skies!

During one of those calms, the guys showed up with our new mattresses for All Decked Out. It all happened so fast that I forgot to take my camera. But here's what they did:

• Put a new mattress set in the lower bedroom (the new mattress went down the steps, but they hoisted the old one from the lower deck to the upper deck!).
• Moved the main floor mattress set up to the upper bedroom.
• Put a new mattress set in the main bedroom. And you are REALLY going to like this one. I lay down to test it. Good thing Phyllis was there to keep me from going to sleep!

They also kindly took the old mattresses to a city mission thrift store, so somebody else will get some use out of them.

Since we have friends staying at All Decked Out this week, we had to remake all the beds. That's Phyllis' department, and she's an expert at it! She's adding a new bright red bed skirt to the upper bedroom bed.


Then, we switched out the old glass-top and metal table and chairs for a new table and six wooden chairs - very sturdy, but much easier to move. Take a look:

As you can see, the new table is a little longer, so it can comfortably seat 8 people. We may add 2 more chairs, but there are similar chairs downstairs, plus some folding chairs in the main bedroom closet.

The old dining table and chairs will find a good home, because they're now sitting at Sweet Repeats in Pigeon Forge (a great place to find like-new furniture).

Speaking of Sweet Repeats, Gene and Michael have been a huge help to us - moving stuff around, delivering stuff, picking up stuff, etc. Here's Gene taking a well-deserved rest in the store...


...but not for long, because they soon loaded new bed frames for us (this is Michael loading one of the frames):


Bed frames? Yes, unfortunately, we had to replace the two queen bed frames today at Smoky Mountain Tower, as well as a ceiling fan. I don't know for sure, but it looks like some kids were enjoying jumping on the beds. They broke both bed frames, as well as the ceiling fan in the Queen Bonus Room.

Fortunately, our good friend, Mark Kalinowski, was available to help us today. In addition with helping with all the bedding moves at All Decked Out, he replaced the fan...


You'll love the new fan - with each blade being a different color. And it has a light, which the old one didn't have.

Mark got a lot of other stuff done, too - but we'll talk about that later (this post is already long enough). We're finishing the day watching the weather, because Sevier County has had a number of tornado warnings. So far, we're thankful to report that we've just had wind, rain and a lot of lightning. We are REALLY hoping - and praying - that we'll be able to start on the window repairs to the Tower exterior wall tomorrow morning. We'll let you know...

Good news and bad news from Gatlinburg

First, the bad news. Ray Phillips - our contractor for the west wall at Smoky Mountain Tower - called this morning before 7:00 am to discuss the weather. After both of us doing some online and TV checking, we decided that there is too great a chance of wind and rain for the next 3 days. So we have postponed the work. After all, these guys are going to be working about 40-50 feet in the air. It's no use taking chances.

Of course, this really puts us into a tight schedule. We have guests arriving Saturday afternoon. But if everything clears Thursday, Ray thinks he can get the bulk of the exterior work done before then. We still have 3 days open next week, so he can finish up then (if the weather is okay). It's okay. God controls the weather, and He knows what is the right time to get this work done.

Now the good news. If you've ever been to All Decked Out, you know that the glass-top table in the dining room, along with the metal and wicker chairs, really look nice. But the chairs especially are VERY heavy. As we mentioned on our Web site last month, we bought 6 new sturdy wooden chairs that are MUCH easier to move around. We got a really good deal, because we have to put them together. I got the first two done today and took them over to see how they would work with the glass-top table. The answer - not as well as we would like - primarily because of a big metal brace on the table that runs from the center to all 4 corners.

So, we headed to town this afternoon. Here's the good news. We were able to get a really nice table that matches the chairs and can easily seat 8 people around it. We'll start with the 6 chairs, because there are 4 folding chairs in the main bedroom closet, and 4 almost identical wooden chairs in the Family/Game room. And the really nice thing was that the table fit into our van (in keeping with yesterday's post, it fit just 'barely!). Here it is in the van:



I'll get the rest of the chairs put together and everything will be in place by tomorrow or Thursday. And the glass table and chairs? They're all going to a great place in Pigeon Forge called "Sweet Repeats" - a consignment store for furniture and other stuff. They'll put it up for sale for a month or so. If nobody wants it, they donate it to "City of Hope" in Sevierville. So it will definitely find a good home.

More good news. We are replacing the king bed sets in the upper and lower level bedrooms. Those new sets will also be in place in the next couple of days.

Come back later this week for some new All Decked Out photos.

Just 'bearly' arrive in Gatlinburg and ...

Looks like it's going to be an interesting week in Gatlinburg. We just arrived about 2 hours ago, got the car unpacked, and got stuff put away. I decided to go outside and take some 'before' pictures of the west side (windows, chimney, etc.), where the work is going to be done this week. As I rounded the corner behind the hot tub deck, I saw something black.

Yep, it was a BEAR! So I ran back inside, called Phyllis, grabbed my camera ... and now you can see what we saw!


He finds some bread and settles down for dinner, while Phyllis watches from a safe distance (up on the deck).


Then he walks behind the deck, toward the driveway.


Wait, here are some biscuits! So he stops and enjoys them.


Then he heads our way - up the steps to our hot tub deck. That's when we decided we should duck inside!


So he ambles up the walk to the driveway, sniffs around the car and heads for the garbage can. But it's bearproof! So he goes off behind the cabin. I wait a few minutes and try again to take my pictures.



But he has come back around. So I hang out on the deck to see where he will go this time.



He wanders around a bit, but eventually gives up and wanders down the path toward the road below us and off to another neighborhood in search of more food. Yes, I finally got my pictures. You'll see them later this week as the 'before' pictures, along with the 'after' (we hope!).

By the way, our guests certainly meant well. But leaving food outside is DANGEROUS! Please don't do it!

We're off to a 'roaring' good start! Keep checking back often. We'll probably be posting every day this week.