Burning Questions - TWO

Burning Questions Series - I ask, you answer, everyone enjoys.

Person: Shellie of the Weinhard Hotel in Dayton, Washington

As with all of us, Shellie has a wonderful story.  Shellie and her husband Gary own and operate the historic Weinhard Hotel. It is a gem tucked away for safe keeping in rural Dayton, Washington. If you find yourself in the area, stop in, say hi, stay the night, you will be in great hands.

Thank you Shellie for a glimpse into your life and a few more details about you and your lovely hotel.

(Via)

If you were stuck in a moment which would you choose?

I had to really think about this one, because I have experienced some fantastic "moments" that have given me goosebumps or butterflies or both. But if I was going to be STUCK there, I would have to pick a lingering, beautiful moment. So, I choose this one: On vacation with Gary in Honduras, Jungle River Lodge, near Pico Bonito National Park. Morning. Sitting in the rustic, open air dining room, looking across giant boulders and the Rio Cangrejal at the fantastic jungle mountainside. One of the guests at the lodge is practicing yoga on one of the ginormous warm rocks, others are quietly enjoying their morning coffee, like me. Beautiful. Breath-giving. I could stay there forever.

Would you tell me a story from childhood?

My brother, Keith, is 18 months older than me. When we were little, he was my number one playmate. We would wander all over the farm and find things to entertain us. One of the outbuildings on the farm was called “the machine shed”. It had an enclosed room on one end of the building, and open garage type stalls along the side, so that farm equipment could be parked there. Sometimes we had these areas penned off for animals, or stacked with hay. One of the stalls was used for milking our cow, Josie. If my brother and I went into the room on the end, we could climb up the built-in shelves on the inside wall, and reach the rafters. From there, we could walk from rafter to rafter across the length of the building. This could provide hours of fun. There was a flatbed trailer near this building that we would climb onto and walk across, back and forth, making it teeter-totter on its axle. A great game to play was to walk to one end of the trailer, making it tip in that direction. Then just before it hit the ground, run to the other end, and see how many times we could go back and forth before the trailer touched the ground on either side. There was also a huge piece of left-over corrugated steel that was used for making “Quonset Huts”, or shelters for the pigs. This large piece of metal was lying in a cone shape, near the creek. My brother and I would climb up over the edge, being careful not to scrape our legs on the sharp metal, and then shimmy down to the center where we could echo and shout. It was like being inside of a humongous megaphone!

Other fun stuff to do with a brother on a farm:

1. Use a stick to stir the hot tar that’s patching the road in front of the house.
2. Examine dead frogs on the hot pavement.
3. Find abandoned periwinkle shells stuck to river rocks and peel them off.
4. Build a stick dam in the creek to fortify the swimming hole.
5. Make a miniature town out of scrap wood from the lumber mill.
6. Built a snow fort, hay fort or tree fort!
7. Hang a hammock in your tree fort, using a blanket and some rope.


What is your favorite item to bake for your guests?

Muffins! Since fruit baskets are provided for each guest, we always have left-over fruit. The kind of muffins I make depends on the type of fruit I have in abundance. I have a very adaptable recipe that works well with bananas, pears, apples, you name it! I have fun experimenting with this. I think my favorite so far is pumpkin-orange-pecan. YUM!


What flourishes on your rooftop garden and are you planting anything new this year?

Anything that likes a lot of SUN thrives on the rooftop garden. Cosmos, Honeysuckle, Salvia, Yellow Daisies, Wisteria... I keep a variety of things up there. It has kind of a random order to it, which I like.
This year, I planted ALIUM! They look like purple fireworks on sticks to me. I planted them for something tall around the gazing ball. I am SOOOO excited to see them when they come up. I think they are going to be fun and bea-U-tiful!

What provides comfort in your everyday?

There is a thing I call "The Delicious Sleepiness". It's that wonderful warm feeling that if I laid my head down RIGHT NOW I would have no trouble at all drifting off to sleep. It usually happens to me
around 2:00 in the afternoon. It makes me so happy. I love The Delicious Sleepiness. Sometimes, if I tell Gary that I am going to take a nap he will say, "Oh, you're going to bed! Shall I join you?" And I say, "NO! You are just trying to steal my nap!" because, If I don't cozy up and go to SLEEP when The Delicious Sleepiness hits, I will miss it altogether. This is definitely one of my everyday comforts.

Thanks again Shellie,  you are a wonderful lady!

The Weinhard Hotel
235 E. Main Street
Dayton WA, 99328
tel. 509.382.4032
fax 509.382.2640

Burning Questions - ONE

I am starting a new series called, Burning Questions. A series about us, the everyday extraordinary people that grace our lives and the questions that often do not get asked.

There is no doubt in my entire being that every person's story is as important as the next, you may be a superstar, an extraordinary athlete, graceful mother, enduring friend or the man of my dreams that shares the bed with me. We are in this together - equally. Your story is incredible, especially after a glass of wine..... no really, you are important.

Every story is worth telling. Each person is a piece of the larger puzzle. People come into our lives as easy as they leave, that is life, at the end of the day it can prove to be rather interesting. Each of us impact one another - it is true, pinkey swear. If you don't think you have had an impression on anyone, you are wrong, if you don't believe me, try harder, go be part of other people's business, get all up in it, ask to come over for dinner (bring dinner and a bottle of wine) or beg them to go for a walk, drag them to a movie or your favorite restaurant.

Here it is, I am digging in, being nosey and asking the questions that most people do not mind answering.

I have a friend, she is family but I don't know exactly how but she is probably the same age as my mother if that is any indicator.  She has been there for me through some of the roughest times of my life. She is there for a lot of people and as it turns out, people are there for her. I am there for her. I think she is an amazing woman, mother, and friend. Jodi opened up to answer a few questions, enjoy!

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and some current obsessions:  

I have pretty much lived my life to please others, which is a good thing. However, I am finding at this time in my life I am left wondering "what now." My biggest obsession is being a Mom and My son Luke and anything he is involved in (hockey).  I am the proudest parent that there is.  I have no regrets with how I have raised my son and the time that I have been able to spend with him. I have always put Luke first, not always a good choice as a Mother, but the way I chose.  Scott provided well for us so I was able to always be the one that is there for him when he left for school and there when he got home, and have been there for every hockey practice, doctors appointments, sick days, school presentations, talent shows, play dates, sleepovers, and the rest of his awesome life.  I worked hard so that I could look back on my life with him growing up and later not be able to say "I wish I would have been a better parent." You only have on shot at this and can fuck up a kid in a hurry.   I did it all and am so proud of the job I have done, and the time I have spent with him.   You can never get that back.  I am so so happy on the choices I made with Luke. I look forward to our future, and am getting used to him not leaning on me so much and am allowing him that, but want him to know that I am ALWAYS there for him no matter what. I am anxious for him to start his adult life, and can't wait to see the paths that he chooses. 

If you were stuck in a moment which would you choose? 

Back in time with my horse Cinder in Grandmas barn......Wish I could have Ozzy there too, because I would have two of my best friends together at the same time......Awesome.

Would you tell me a story from childhood? 

I spent a lot of time with your Mom, or at least it seemed like it.  I remember she was so shy, timid and would hide behind your Grandmas legs.  I was always outgoing and tried to push her out and bullied her a lot.  Not so much bullied, but tried to make her realize that most things she was afraid of were not going to hurt her.  I am not sure that was a good thing once we were teenagers, cause I think then, she tried to out do me, perhaps the things she chose to out do me on weren't the best.  Actually your mom and I have stayed very close through out the years and all the drama our family seems to attract.  I feel that she is my "way better than a Sister", if she was mine we wouldn't probably get along as well as we do and be able to say the things we do to each other.....However, I do consider her my Sister, in a way.

I went on a few trips on the Shawmanee and enjoyed the freedom and peace that came with it.   I grew up watching your Grandpa  building that boat and watched it being launched, and still to this day can't believe that boat floated.  I still don't understand.

That wasn't a very specific story, but probably the first most important to me.

The second most important thing from my childhood was my horse.

I had one of my horses since I was 3 and the best horse I had was around 12 years old.  Her name was Cinder, she was my best friend.  Horses are amazing animals.  I can stand here today and say I would not have made it through teenage years without my horse.  I talked to her, cried with her, slept with her and shared some of the best times of my early teens with my horse.  We didn't have the tech stuff there is now, I had a relationship with something that was real, eager to please and a pleasure to care for. Today I still love the smell of a good horse barn and petting a horse 'til your hand is brown with horse soot.   Once I was able to drive, of course I sold my horse to buy a car.  I had her bred and she had a young foal who I sold to a couple in Canada, I used to go see her weekly although she wasn't at the best of places, the foal died, a part of me also died.  I never went back and saw Cinder again.  Regrets, yes. But at 16....you know it all. I hope to someday have another horse and a connection like I did with her.  The area we lived in and having a horse was truly the most awesome part of my childhood. I kept the horse at Grandmas and was able to ride down the power line trail (no houses of course) to Lake Padden.  We would swim on our horses in the water, saddles and all. I rode some of the best trails ever, blackberry, huckleberry you name it we rode our horses, picked and ate. The happiest time of my childhood was with my horse Cinder. 

What provides comfort in your everyday?   

The best dog in the world....OZZY.  He is always there, goes everywhere with me, asks for little and is so happy. He is my every day constant comfort.

Occasionally, of course a GOOD glass of wine, a shot of Jaegermeister, or as experience has taught me a good expensive, Vodka. I have learned you get what you pay for as far as booze is considered, money counts.  However, do not share your good booze or wine with people who don't appreciate it, always keep some cheap shit around for the ones who don't care....Keep the good shit for yourself if you appreciate it.

What would be a dream come true? 

To be healthy and pain free.  I know there is something to learn from this, however it is getting old and so am I, there is shit I want to do, pain limits me.  I don't like someone telling me what to do or controlling me, unfortunately, this pain has had the upper hand too long.   I am learning how to better manage the pain but it limits what I can do.  I  just have to learn how to live for the time being between those limits and I am.

Ok can I have one more answer, or you should have asked this question, what would be your perfect job, if money is not an option?

I would have a Ranch with the gentlest horses in the world and have troubled teen girls come for 30-60-90 days or whatever they needed, live, home school and work while taking care of the horses.  It wouldn't be a easy cake walk for these girls, but I know I could help girls through the tough times in the teenage years that really suck.

What is the last great book your read? 

Oh my god, the one you sent me, Nora Ephron's, Why I Feel Bad About my Neck.  I needed the humor, I laughed till I cried.  She was a hoot and I like real people, and loved the book.  I have recommended it to everyone my age, and can't wait to read other of hers.

Jodi and I making my favorite caesar salad before we go to her son's hockey game.