Chaps Inn, Palm Springs, California

Mike & John

2012-02-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

Our friends, Mike and John threw a very enjoyable 20th anniversary bash at their spacious Palm Springs estate last Friday night which we were lucky enough to be able to attend. Copious quantities of cake and wine were consumed (rightly so). Some faces we recognised but couldn't put names to them, sorry guys if we appeared a bit blank!! Amongst the happy throng were spotted Don Thompson and Henry Jordan .. always a pleasure. Don was the very first San Francisco Leather Daddy - we hob-nob with only the best!! John entertained us with his organ (!) and a lively sing-along of Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang!!! Unfortunately we didn't get around to a rousing chourus of our favorite "Who put their overalls in Mrs Murphy's chowder!".

Thanks again, Mike and John. See, we are able to get out occasionally!!!

We have sad news.

2012-02-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

It is with great regret we have to tell you of the death of our dear friend Jack, as of' ("Touched by Jack"), the lovely masseur, who died whilst on vacation in Hawaii as a result of a parasailing accident. We still don't believe it. He and his boyfriend Woody came round to visit 2 weeks ago and Jack was so excited and proud for us to meet Woody. They were finally going to spend some time together after having met at Delta.

Jack is the only masseur we ever recommended despite all the others dropping off their cards.

Please note other masseurs; don't just drop off your cards and expect us to display them in our office without at least offering us a free 1/2 hour!!! How are we supposed to recommend you?

Thanks again, weather forecasters!!!

2012-01-28T19:10:00.001-08:00

Thanks once again, weather forecasters. You managed to scare people away with your forecast of high winds up to 45 mph. Didn't happen, yet again!!

It was a lovely day and the afternoon took a turn for the better with Erich, Dennis, AJ and Peter arriving to entertain our guests. Let's just say, the St. Andrews cross was used to it's best. Woo Hooo!!

It's a Twister, Aunty Em!!! (Continued)!

2012-01-24T18:47:00.001-08:00

Well, things calmed down and now we're back to normal. Well, as normal as Palm Springs ever is. Remember the Lone Ranger & Tonto riding to the rescue? Dennis & AJ arrived back at their home on Saturday only to find a huge tree had crashed down into their parking area!!!! Their car would've been CRUSHED. See what I mean about there being a gay god?

The roof from next door has been taken out of the tree and the debris is all gone. Kudos to Richard for getting it done so quickly. See, it pays to know people! It took Stuart and I 6 1/2 hours on Sunday to clean up. The pool and spa were like swamps, greenybrownysludgyswampy. You could almost imagine something primevil slithering out!!!! There were leaves from trees, sand from the desert and crap from everywhere else. Our pool man Augusto, bless his heart, called to see if we needed help. YES. So he and his son came by Sunday morning and within an hour everything was clean and sparkling. Nothing primevil in our waters!!!

Needless to say, the weather forecast was for more high winds and rain today. It didn't happen but I'm sure it was good for business at The Home Depot or Lowe's. They probably sold a record number of tarps!!!!! Thanks once again for the scare tactics weather people!!! Maybe you should start thinking about not scaring people away during the summer? Now there's a thought!

It's a Twister, Aunty Em!!!

2012-01-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

We've lived here for over 10 years and have never experienced winds like we had yesterday afternoon. The day started beautifully, some clouds peeping over the mountains, lovely warm sunshine, admiring the bodies on display and then .. Wham!!! Out of no-where Boom!

"That was a suprise", we thought!!!! Then suddenly we were running around quicker than an Italian Captain abandoning ship, making sure all the doors and windows were closed. Sand flying, crap being blown from god knows where, the wind changed from the north to blowing from the south sending up clouds of dust (honestly, I'd only washed down the day before!!!). The first thing we did was to drop the sun beds heads down (as you can see what I mean).

(You will notice the sun is shining through this). Then thing got worse so we turned the sun beds upside down to save them from being either totally blown away or at least from being blown into the pool. The pool, meantime, has surf on it to rival the best that the west coast could offer!!

Just at the right time, the Lone Ranger and Tonto arrived in the shape of Dennis and AJ! Saved!! (More later!!). We were all sitting there ooohing and aaahing at the palm trees bending like rubber. Please note, the clouds have arrived!!!

Then things got even worse but I suppose this is nothing compared to what other states and countries go through, but really, the place was begining to look like a bloody war zone which was exacerbated by the emergency helicopter trying ( and I mean, trying), to land on the hospital helipad. Very, v e r y s l o w l y decending. We expected to hear a bang but, they made it!!!!

Suddenly, there was an almight crash and half of the roof of the hotel next door flew off, some went bouncing into our parking lot narrowly missing our car but hitting DJ and Al's. Most of it ended up lodged in the trees as you can see. You have to look to see it. I've always wanted a tree house. I tell you, we have never been so gratefull as we are to have those trees there even though they've been blocking our mountain view for years. See, there is a gay god!!!!!!
More to follow.

MLK weekend

2012-01-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Monday is Martin Luther King day and our thoughts always go back to that day, 4.31am 1994 when the Northridge earthquake hit us in North Hollywood. For those who havn't experienced a major earthquake, you don't want to. It really is frightening. We survived. Obviously!!!!!

January has started off really well and we have a full hotel this weekend although you wouldn't know it by the number of cars outside! At least 2 of our guests don't have cars so it seems we have 2 rooms empty. We don't!!! Not the greatest weather but the pool is warm, the spa is hot and the steam room is, well, steaming if you get my drift!!!!!!

Looking forward to the year ahead but not looking forward to doing the taxes, yet again. What a crazy system here in the US.
Jim, if you read this, the aloes are starting to sprout their flower spikes and should be in full bloom when you arrive!!! Aloes AND pomegranate martinis! Yee Haaah

New Year's Eve

2012-01-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Because we're a couple of boring old farts these days, we were in bed by our usual time ie shortly after 10pm!! We opened a bottle of bubbly at 4pm to toast the New Year in London, we watched the ball drop in New York at 9pm and had a toast for the east coast and that was about it. I hope everybody watched the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade New Years Day? What glorious weather we had for that and are still having!!! Our guests had all made their own arrangements for the evening so you can guess; we didn't see anybody early Monday!

Our usual bevy of lovely guests from all over the place. I was sorry to have missed John and Bill from Fresno. We didn't have our annual Apple Tini this year. Visitors in from California (of course), some regulars, some new. Houston TX, Stanwood WA, Kimberling City MO, Austin TX, NANCY(!) KY, New York NY, Goodyear AZ,Pheonix AZ, Washington DC and how about Bourbonnais, IL not forgetting our friends from Winnipeg, Canada. Wow, the New Year is off to a good start.

We had a visit from Tony and John down from their high desert estate and Gino, Dennis, AJ, Peter and Erich dropped by. We love you all. Looking forward to February and March, our two busiest months and welcoming Jim back to his 2nd home! I'll have the Pom Tini waiting!!!!

Happy New Year

2012-01-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it's been a while and I have been berated from all angles for not keeping up!
December is always a quiet time of year following Gay Pride, Leather Pride and Thanksgiving. That makes it a perfect time to get away, usually Stuart and I get away for at least a night or two, either Vegas, Riverside (!) or we were contemplating LA but decided I needed to go to England and spend the first Christmas for 20 years with my family. I flew out December 17th and arrived back December 29th, just in time for the New Year celebrations!

Whilst I was in England I went with my mum and sister to a fox-hunt meet which is always very colourful. Although it is llegal to hunt and kill foxes, the posh folks on their horses still love to go clattering around the countryside. They now have eagles which are supposed to flush out the rabbits and wildlife for the hounds to tear to pieces and if a fox gets in the way, oh well, too bad!!!

The village where the meet took place is called Stilton and is where Stilton cheese was first sold in the village pub called the Bell

The story goes that the landlady of the Bell was the sister of the manufacturer of Stilton Cheese and sold it in the pub. The pub was an old coaching inn and a regular stop to change horses. The cheese was (and still is) made in a small town called Melton Mowbray, also famous for it's Pork Pies!!! Yes, how interesting I hear you say!

Brrrrrrrrrrr. It's cold in Palm Springs!

2011-12-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Actually, right now at 2.20pm its 54F (12C). Not cold for a lot of people out there in the frozen north/east but definately cold for us more warm bloodied creatures!!! High winds last night, dropped today but more winds promised for overnight tonight. In Los Angeles, last night they had the worst winds for 70 years!!!!! Certainly not weather for lazing around the pool.

Our poor guests!!! This is the kind of day I usually recommend visiting the museum using free tickets given to us by the Chamber of Commerce.

PSSST!!!!

2011-11-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

We are hosting our very first PSSST pool party this afternoon, 12-4pm. What is PSSST I hear you ask? Well, if you must know, Palm Springs Social Sun Tanners. A naked men's club that has been going for years and years. Not a very rowdy group, Unfortunately the sun disappeared behind the mountain at 3.15 so everyone scattered before 4pm! No pictures!

Thanksgiving comes early!

2011-11-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

We decided to have our Thanksgiving last Saturday instead of the traditional last Thursday in November. Most of the people we wanted to invite were either going to be away or working so we had Dennis, AJ, Peter and friend Craig, Don and Lou (2 recent arrivals from San Francisco), Stuart and myself made eight. We had invited "Paul at the Gate" but he didn't show up. Instead of cooking the traditional turkey, we had two boneless turkey breasts . Delicious. Stuart prepared the turkey and gravy not to mention the oyster dressing and I made the cranberry relish We had shrimp cocktail and calves liver pate as appetisers (I made the shrimp cocktail/sauce), roasted winter vegetables,( carrots, parsnips, fennel and butternut squash) together with pommes anna. For dessert, Ina Gartens Rum Raisin Tiramisu and her recipe for Eaton Mess, all washed down with lashings of wine followed by Port and Stilton!, Yummo! Oh, we had asked our lovely guests from Denver to join us for dessert, which they did. Lovely indeed!!!

I don't know what we will be doing on the day. Too late now to book a restaurant but, hey ho, its an American holiday, not a British one. Wait a minute ...in that case, why were we doing all the work??? Mmmm. Have to rethink for next year!!!

Leather Pride

2011-11-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

It wasn't very good weather over the Leather Pride weekend November 11th-13th. It poured with rain most of Saturday. Even though we were full, we had nobody sitting around the pool. Having said that, it was a great week/weekend with our visitors from Australia and Canada helping out with the festivities!!! (and from what I saw, helping out with international relations, if you know what I mean, nudge, nudge!!!).

Palm Springs Mr. Leather competion was held at the Palm Springs Convention Center for the second year running. This year it was held in the main entrance which is very big but does nothing for the acoustics. I don't know what the staff (particularly the young girls working the bars) thought of all these queens in leather chaps and jocks. Must've given them quite a shock or at least something to gossip about.

We were given an award and went onto the stage to accept it to a great round of applause and cheers (hopefully not jeers!). A very nice acrylic trophy thanking us for our support over the years (and our financial contributions I might add). Very nice, thank you. Dave Rhodes from the Leather Journal took our photo. We'll have to wait and see whether it hits the streets this week. Actually Dave stayed with us for 3 nights over the weekend. Hope he gives us a nice plug! Check out the Leather Journal for pictures.

Oh, by the way, Mr. Tool Shed won the competion. Congrats!!!

John Gallagher at the Red Tomato.

2011-11-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ooop, nearly forgot. For those of you in town for Pride this weekend or even for locals, our friend John (bon vivant) Gallagher plays the piano at the Red Tomato every Friday and Saturday night between 6-9pm.

This weekend he will be wearing my rainbow sequined vest to celebrate Pride. Quite a sight to behold. Go see!!!

(Rainbow sequined vest left to me by our dear late friend Richard Williams).

Happy Gay Pride, everybody!!!!

2011-11-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are, Gay Pride weekend again so soon! Boy, how times flies. 80% return visitors this weekend and next. Lovely to see you guys again, almost like a family gathering only much more fun!!!!

Welcome back Skip (no,NOT that one!), Don and Jeff from San Diego, Al & Gary from San Francisco, the Two Bobs from Seattle, Chris from Vancouver BC, Roger & Jack from San Francisco, Alex, Dominic from Los Angeles, welcome we love you all!! Ooops, how could I forget ..... we seem to have had an influx of our Australian cousins, all from New South Wales. Last week we said goodbye to Robert, this week a big hello to Kevin and Tony. Another Commonwealth gathering. God Save the Queen!!!!

Our Anniversary!!

2011-10-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

Nobody is more suprised than we are but October 31st 2000, Stuart and I moved in to the Colibri Inn, Palm Springs soon to become (5 months later), Chaps Inn which has been our home ever since. Eleven years have gone by. How is that possible? Yes, we still love it and I'm sure it will be very difficult to leave once we decide to sell. Not yet though. Not for a few more years!!!!!

New Towels!!

2011-10-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

It's a sad day when the arrival of new towels is the highlight!!! We have given away better towels than we have used in a lot of hotels around the world. The last hotel we stayed at in San Francisco (and it wasn't cheap), you could've shaved with them or at least had a self dermabrasion!! Our friends Mike & John will testify to that! Same goes for the Hilton Hotel at Terminal 4, Heathrow. (Paris, take note. I bet you don't use the same towels as us poor mortals!).

What to do with the old towels? (some are pictured above waiting collection), they are going to the homeless shelter here in Palm Springs. Goodbye, dear towels, you have served us well!!!!
PS, Just so you know, all our towels and linens are made here in the USA

Jim Reed

2011-10-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

We have decided to have a celebration for Jim here at the hotel on Wednesday, October 12th 6pm-9pm. No need to bring anything except maybe some soda or, if inclined, alcohol. Gino will be bringing some nibbles and you know us, we can't help but cook up a feast!!

It's a beautiful day here in Paradise

2011-10-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a glorious day today, mid 80's, but starting to get a bit chilly in the evenings. Stuart and I had to put our lightweight douvet on the bed last night; first time since mid-June!!! Poor us.

I drove back from LA on Wednesday in reasonably heavey rain. Good God people, SLOW DOWN!! All those in their high and mighty SUV's and trucks, spare a thought for us low riders. There is a CA law, enacted at least 3 years ago which states that if it is raining hard enough to use windshield wipers, you MUST put on your lights. Don't people realise, they disappear in a cloud of mist thrown up by their speeding SUV's etc. It's bad enough when the white lights disappear, some red lights to follow would be nice. You go over the edge, I go over the edge!!!! That's my rant for today. I was going to write to the local paper but this is just as good.

Anyhow, Chaps Inn is full for the weekend .. yeah!!! It has become something of a Commonwealth weekend what with visitors from UK, Canada and Australia. God save the Queen!!! The forecast is promising mid 80's all the way through Monday. Lucky us. Also visitors in from California (of course), Florida, Arizona and Texas.

Jim Reed

2011-10-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

We saw Gino for the first time since Jim died. He seems to be holding up well. Natural Causes is what the the coronors report said. He has been cremated and we are planning a small celebration of his life sometime during October.

Will keep you posted.

Jim Reed

2011-09-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

It was with great sadness last night we heard of the passing of our friend Jim Reed. Gino called us with the news. This was so sudden and unexpected . Jim had traveled back to their Texas home and was found in bed. We don't know exactly what happened but will post when we know more. Our deepest sympathy and condolences to Gino. We love you Gino.

We'll miss you Jim and your barbeques, smiling face and knowledge of all things Home Depot! RIP

Thunder clouds approaching!

2011-09-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged! Well, the parking lot opposite is finished but nobody has been allowed to park on it so far! Doesn't look too bad. Our computer went down so we are the proud owners of a nice new shiny black model.

Yesterday we had thunder and lightening, quiet dramatic. It poured with rain nearly all day.

Sadly today, we say 'goodbye' to our dear friend Dick who has been with us for 7 days. He's off back home to San Francisco. The three of us went for lunch yesterday at LULU, downtown in the old Muriel's. A HUGE menu, they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Very ambitious of them and we hope it works out. It had a great quota of fags and will definitely be on our list of recommendations. The 'red hat society' were there for lunch enjoying themselves as usual. For those who don't know, the 'red hats society is a group of women who go out for tea (or lunch, or dinner) for themselves, not for charity but to have FUN! I think the minimum age is 50 but I might be wrong on that. Anyhoo, check out the poem, "When I grow old I shall wear purple, and a red hat".......... then you'll know what they are about.

Goodbye to Dick, but hello Friday to Jim and Terry, also from San Francisco and also in for 7 days. Welcome back!!!!

I have just finished reading "Secret Historian" By Justin Spring. The life and times of Samuel Steward, professor, tattoo artist and sexual renegrade. How very interesting and we have a lot to thank Steward and his contemporaries for the life we now have. Please read it (ignore the footnotes, they drove me crazy), reflect and be thankful.

Weather back to normal.

2011-08-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here we are, weather back to normal. The humidity has gone and we are now at a respectable 12% and the temperature a comfortable 103f (39.4c). Pool is a perfect 89 and looks very inviting! Clear blue skies, not a breath of wind. Oh to be in Palm Springs now that summer is here!

Re previous blog .... we made a telephone complaint about inappropriate use of our Knox Box and guess what? Couldn't care less. As our dear friend DG said .... does having a key to a Knox box give them the right to enter any business at any time without permission????? We will be bringing this up with our elected representatives.

What do you think?

2011-08-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had a Palm Springs police car parked in our parking lot last night for at least a couple of hours. Parked horizontally and looking up towards Indian Canyon watching (it transpired) a car parked on the side of the road. (No doubt our local drug ring).

Stuart and I were getting ready to eat dinner when suddenly, as if from nowhere, there was a police woman standing on our deck. We were a little suprised to say the least and scrambled to find clothes! She wanted to use the 'restroom'! "How did you get in" asked Stuart. "Oh, you have a Knox box so I used the key" she replied. A knox box is a secure locked box attatched to the outside wall containing a key to our front gate for use in emergencies which the fire department insisted we have.

Well, here's the thing. What constitutes an emergency? I don't think that wanting to have a pee negates the usual politeness of asking before coming on to our property. Even the fire department on their annual inspection call from the gate and ask to be let in. We don't want to make a fuss or get onto the wrong side of the law, but really, how would you feel if a police officer suddenly 'appeared' without ringing your doorbell first?

It's a dry heat, right???

2011-08-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

WRONG!!! This morning at 6am we had a humidty level of 60% which is extremely unusal. It dropped to 30% by 8am but is back up to 42% at 11am. I'm so pleased we bought a barometer!

The forcast for today is a high of 107f (41.6c) It certainly feels like it might get up there. Currently (11am), 97f (36.1c) We're not complaining, we are just glad we're not on the east coast. Misters are working and the pool is inviting!

Nearly forgot!!!

2011-08-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

I meant to say, we finally got the gardeners in to chop down the trees which were overhanging the walkway outside 9 and 10. What a difference! We can see the sky and the trees are no longer banging onto our roofline or getting stuck in the wind underneath the eaves! Well done, Alex and your 'gang!'.

It's going to be a hot one!!!!

2011-08-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Heat advisory warning have been issued for this weekend for San Bernadino and Riverside counties with temperatures expected to be up to 10f (12.2c) degrees warmer than usual. Bring it on!! This morning at 7.30 we were already at 84f (28.8c).
I just put the misters on at 11.30am and we are at 94f (34.4c). More later ..... we love it.

Well, how disappointing, by 4 pm it only got up to 102f (38.8c). Mind you, that was ITS (In The Shade) with the misting system at full bore. Ho Hum, tomorrow is another day!!!!

A busy weekend

2011-08-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? Here we are, August, one of the hottest months in Palm Springs and we are 70% full! Despite the fact it was at least 110 on Thursday. It has cooled down a bit since them. We only had to call out the air-conditioning people to one room but that was fixed very quickly. People in from France, Spain, England, California, New York and Georgia!!! All slings have been rented so a good time being had by all!!!

More about our trip

2011-08-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

You know when you meet some people you just have an instant rapport and a love of friends and you feel you've known them all your life? Well, that's how we feel about Kev and Ian, long time guests at Chaps Inn living in Soham, England. We spent a delightful lunch with them. There they are, delightful company and we love you guys!!!!

15 ASSOCIATION 2012

2011-08-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

The dates for next year's 15's 'meeting' is August 10th thru 12th. Mark it in your diary. It is a date not to be missed!!!

Welcome to the 15 Association!

2011-08-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

We welcome back members of the 15 Association. Lovely to see familiar faces thanks to Peter, Dennis and AJ. We had a bit of an accident earlier this evening when one of the members attempted to stand after sitting in one of our patio chairs and managed to get his PA caught in the mesh seat ... ouch! He is at the emergency room at the Desert Regional right now. Yanked it right out .. blood ... tears ... fainting ... vomiting ... (OK I'm exaggerating, but there was blood, plenty of blood and I washed down this morning!!!!). And so the weekend continues ........ fun, fun, fun (until my daddie took the flogger away)!!! LOL. I told you it would continue ... Stuart just dropped the remains of an apple pie on the kitchen floor. Oh Boy!!! Blood AND apple pie cleanup!

More about our trip!

2011-08-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

As I said, Stuart's youngest sister Rachael had just bought and opened a tea shop in Stratford upon Avon called 'Fourteas', a Forties theme with forties music and lots of war time paraphernalia and propaganda on the walls. A lovely space and a very good pot of tea!!!! Here's a picture of the full Ivor Novello English tea!! Yummo!!!

And here's a picture of our friend Jane (who drove 200 miles to spend some time with us, Jane and Ian shared a flat during the '70's!!).

And our friend Pegi underneath the Union Jack enjoying a cuppa!! (Love the poster ... "Keep Calm and Carry On!". How British and how appropriate for these days of riots!!!!).

Here's Ian. (right) Rachaels husband with their daughter, Alice who we remember as a very small child! Stuart, Pegi and I took a open top double decker bus tour of the Shakespeare 'properties' ending up at Mary Arden's house outside Stratford, left opposite. We didn't go in to visit as we preferred the local pub for a liquid lunch!!! What a lovely afternoon we all had!

We're B A C K

2011-08-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time visiting friends and family and there wasn't a drop of rain which is highly unusual for England at this time of year. Where to begin? Well, we flew United Airlines Palm Springs to San Francisco to London Heathrow. Here's a picture of Stuart in business class just about to enjoy a glass of champagne before we took off. It was 1pm after all! The flight was uneventful thank goodness and we managed to sleep for a few hours and arrived feeling quite rested and on time. We had arranged to rent a car at Heathrow which can be a bit daunting if you have not driven on the left for some time as neither of us had. It's not so bad and we soon got the hang of it. Stuart drove the first 100 miles or so with the aid of GPS or, as they say in England, SatNav! (Satellite Navigational System!).

We met my mum, dad, sister and nieces at a restaurant for lunch in a town called Kettering, midway between London and Stratford arriving there 11am ish. Fairly horrible experience due to there being a wedding party and not enough staff. My turn to drive the next leg of the journey ... about 80 miles from Kettering to Stratford, motorway (freeway) nearly all the time. We arrived in Stratford around 4pm. Exhausted!!

We had rented a 2 bedroom apartment in the middle of Stratford Upon Avon. Here's the view from the 1st floor (2nd floor in America), of the canal connecting Birmingham with the river Avon. After settling in and paying our rent for the week, we set off to Stuarts sister Rachaels' new tea rooms in Stratford called Fourteas. More about Fourteas coming up later.

We're on vacation!!!

2011-07-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Finally the day has arrived. We are now closed until August 4th. Off to England to visit the folks tomorrow morning. Taxi picking us up at 5.30am for our flight to San Francisco at 7.10.

More when we get back

Goodbye Betty!

2011-07-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

As you all are aware, Betty Ford flew out of Palm Springs last week and what a wonderful advertisment for the valley. Did you see ..... clear blue skies, mountains shimmering in the heat haze. Stuart and I went onto the balconey and saw the plane as it took off. Better than her husbands which took off the other way and we glimpst his plane briefly between 2 palm trees!

The parking lot opposite looks almost ready. It won't be bad once we get the trees planted. Forcasting 104 today. I'll be at the movies with Dennis, AJ and Peter watching Harry Potter!

The trees arrived!!!

2011-07-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

The trees have arrived for the new parking lot opposite. It won't look as bad as we thought once these get planted and established.

The last Hurrah!!

2011-07-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Or "Hooray" depending how posh you are. You can either have been to an 'Hurrah' school or an
"Hooray" school, especially in England. (Thanks for that one, Caroline!).

This weekend is the final weekend of the year. After this, nothing until the middle of August (The 15 Association) for which we thank them. This weekend is the annual party between a few hotels in the neighbourhood. We are one of the 'overflow' hotels, pun intended!!
Full to overflowing we are and lots of lovely yellow wrist bands for the already initiated. More later. Very nice to see some of our regulars again and visitors from California (of course), Texas, Florida and Colorado. Welcome!!!!!!!!

Now ... pool etiquette (again). Do I always have to remind people .. NO GLASS AROUND OR IN THE POOL OR SPA. Isn't it common sense? I am removing all glass containers from the communal fridge NOW.

Just heard on TV a restauranteur from San Francisco, after having a restaurant for 15 years, "it really isn't that difficult iff you love it" Our sentiments exactly!

A dreary day in Palm Springs!!!

2011-07-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

You won't believe this but here we are, Sunday July 3rd, the day before Independance Day and it is cloudy, humid and we've had a few spots of rain! The clouds are so low, the mountains have disappeared. Hopefully it will burn off and we'll be back to our usual 100+

We have cancelled the Monster Manhood Weekend event supposed to be here this afternoon, complete with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgance and an accordian playing clown! That would've been a sight!!! We're full to overflowing. Guests in from New Zealand, England, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Massachusetts. Apart from 3 rooms out of 10, everybody has been here before. WELCOME BACK!!! We love you all!!

Whitewater

2011-06-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Before I start, we got a new BLUE umbrella from Albertsons, see previous blog posting.

Today, my husband and I decided to visit the Whitewater National Preserve just outside Palm Springs and have a picnic! . I don't know what brought that on apart from the fact that today was the only day we had by ourselves before guests arrive for the weekend and we don't have any days to ourselves before we fly to England at the end of July.

It was lovely. Almost had the entire place to ourselves. A couple of Spanish speakers and their wailing children but we found a quiet spot underneath a Californian Oak. It was a lovely couple of hours and highly recommended. Can you imagine such a lovely peaceful place with such dramatic views and a river running right throught it? You have to experience it to believe.

From umbrella to satellite dish in one easy swoop!!

2011-06-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

LOL, there we were sitting outside enjoying a lovely warm, quiet Sunday afternoon with a bottle of Merlot and suddenly, out of no-where came a gust of wind which turned one of our umbrellas inside out!!!! It's a twister aunty Em!!!!!

We bought two of them from Albertsons yesterday. They usually last at least a season. Not this one and we bought the last two blue ones. Well, they were only $49.95 each after all. It'll be taken back tomorrow and maybe we'll try a red one!!!!!

It caused endless amusement for our guests (for at least a minute), so you see, even out of tragedy we supply some laughs!!

By the by .. we played host to two sash winners this weekend. Mr. Pistons Leather 2011 (Long Beach) and Mr. Christopher Street West, (LA Gay Pride). Come again. You're welcome.

This is what has happened to our lovely desert opposite!

2011-06-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is what we are left with after the desert has been covered over. It isn't finished yet; the roof has to go on and the white parking lines to go down but we're nearly there. Hopefully we'll have a nice fence and not a brick wall! Picture taken from our balcony.

How peaceful we are now!!!

2011-06-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

There were no loud noises at 6am. (See yesterdays post) There was no heavy machinery or equipment beep beep beeping today. None. How very nice and relaxing. Looks like they've almost finished. I still regret they did what they have done. I much preferred to walk out and look at an open piece of desert which was one of the very few left now in town. Now we have a parking lot. Oh well, progress. Once the desert is ashphalted, it's gone. Forever. The main entrance is on Mel but we have pedestrian access across to the hopital which is good. I don't have to walk ALL the way around to mail a letter!! I'll post a picture when I get around to it.

psbear .. Charles is only here until Monday. He's on Recon and went looking for you. His dance card is fairly full but y'know.......... for 10 cents!!!!!!

How long does it take to build a parking lot?

2011-06-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

TWO BLOODY MONTHS SO FAR!!!!!!!!!! (See blog April 19th). Woke this morning at 6am to the joyful sound of heavy machinery with their interminable beep beep beep and their rumble like mini earthquakes. Yesterday they started laying blacktop (tar) and the smell is indescibable but then you all know what it smells like!

Our apartment shakes, the glasses in the kitchen rattle and the cats are spooked but wotcha gonna do? Our two guests are pissed off (and who can blame them, they didn't expect this when they booked and neither did we), they're being woken at 6am and even sitting outside (it's 103 today by the way), it's not very relaxing. Hopefully they will finish by 2pm (it's now 12.30pm). There must be some law against working in this heat after a certain time. What happened to siesta? Anyway, blah, blah, blah. Looking on the bright side, they do not work at weekends (hopefully), and they are doing it out of season for which we are very thankful.

In the meantime, here's Charles from Downunder dressed to kill!!!!

Palm Trees get their annual trim.

2011-06-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see by the before and after photos, the poor tree was scalped!! Unfortunately the crew arrived before the boss and they started trimming. We like to leave a few more branches so it doesn't look so de-nuded! Oh well, nothing we can do about it. The other two, the twin Washingtonians fared a bit better as you can see. They only cut out the flower spikes so there isn't much difference. They are intact, Jim!!!! By the way, an interesting tid-bit, Washingtonian Palms are the ONLY indigenous Palm to California! Mexican Fan Palms are not, although technically California was part of Mexico once!

The weekend bookings are going well, looks like 80% full tonight and tomorrow and it's only 7pm!!!! We are welcoming back an old friend who hasn't been here for 5 years, shame on you, Tom!!!!!!!!

Our Anniversary

2011-06-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today, Thursday, is our 3rd wedding anniversary. Actually the date we got married is June 19th but that is fathers day here on Sunday and we will not be going out for brunch as every gay man with their husbands and children will be out in force, including our doctor, dentist and the mayor of Palm Springs. Instead, we decided to go for dinner somewhere we could walk to, Rick's Cuban up the street. Very nice, I had prime rib, baked potato with a side of spinach. Stuart had fillet mignon (rare) with onion rings. Both lovely BUT ..... PEOPLE ......

Please, please can we have some decorum regarding dressing for dinner? What you wear at the gym is not appropriate for wearing to dinner. Men, at least have t-shirts with sleeves .. please, no hairy armpits over the dinner table. Ladies, I think it's called a sundress. Please, cover up the chest. I mean, there is absolutely no need to have those tired old tits dragging over the dinner salad. None of us appreciate that tattoo you all try to hide by pulling up your training shorts as you try not to show us your ass crack walking to the rest room.

Apart from that .... we had a lovely time and recommend Ricks, just dress appropriately.

Last weekend.

2011-06-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend turned out really nice. We ended up 90% full for Saturday night which was a bit of a suprise ... they just kept turning up!!!! How do they find us? It's not as if we're on a main street or anything. Thank goodness for Google, Twitter, Facebook and our blog!!!! Lovely people. We now have 3 guests in from Australia. I am seriously thinking we should dust down the Australian flag and fly it from the balconey. We said goodbye to Richard & Pete from Middlesborough, UK who will be back for July 4th weekend and help us celebrate by watching the fireworks from said balcon (it's Spanish for balconey .. boy, you learn a lot from this blog!!).

Weather is absolutely beautiful, up to 90f today, that's 32c for those living in more enlighted climates!!!!

We had a cancellation for gay pride and leather pride due to another couple who decided to buy a house here thank you very much guys!!!! Anyways, we have filled the room for leather pride (6 nights) but have a room to go for gay pride. Another 6 nights would be nice, hint, hint!!!! It's the suite, $154.

A word of warning and a challenge!!

2011-06-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a word of warning to all you men who shave their balls!! We have a vistor this week from Australia who used Nair (a hair removal product), to remove the hair from his balls. He is in absolute agony, mainly because he had been in the sun and then used it after getting the boys a bit sun-burnt! So, don't go putting Nair on the twins even if you havn't been in the sun!!!!!!

Now the challenge ..... you will get a mention on the blog if you can come up with a witty limerick. It must start " There was a young man from Australia" or "There was a young gentleman from Melbourne". Words should include "hair, nair, down-under, shave, balls, razor, pubic".

Here's mine ..... There was a young man from Australia,
                         Who decided not to use a razor (!),
                          Instead he used Nair
                          To melt off his hair
                          And now his balls scream "you failure!"
Get the picture?????!!!!!!

The birds have flown the nest!!!

2011-06-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

The hummingbirds flew the nest yesterday. One minute they were there, the next, not. They are still around. How quickley they grow up these days!!!

Dennis and AJ dropped by Memorial day for dinner. It was AJ's birthday May 31st. I had made some red velvet chocolate cup cakes to help celebrate. Very nice, thanks again Ina!! Dennis had ordered beef suet from Jensen's because it is very hard to find and Stuart had been going on about wanting to make something with a suet pastry. Guess what? Tonight, Dennis, AJ and Peter will be joining us for steak and mushroom pie with a suet pastry crust! Yum!! I will do a remake of the red velvet chocolate cup cakes. Oh, welcome home from IML Peter. Mr. Leather Europe was the winner.

This weekend is fairly quiet. Some return visitors, Jim from West Vancouver and Allen and Steve from Seal Beach, CA. Thanks for the cactus info, Steve. We now know December is NOT a good time to plant cactus. Did our landscapers tell us this? No, of course not.

Two men checked in last night from Key West and were going to stay only 2 nights. They had been here for about 2 minutes when they decided to cancel the next hotel and stay here until Wednesday!! Yippee for us!

Memorial Weekend.

2011-05-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is a very busy weekend coming up but first of all, sorry I havn't posted anything new for nearly 3 weeks! I can't think why, it's not as if anything uninteresting has happened!!! I've had a birthday since then, May 24th actually and 59 if you must know! Thanks for all the greetings .... Facebook, e-mails and even a couple of cards in the mail! Thanks Jim. I was in North Hollywood on Monday, drove back on my birthday so we could go out to dinner together... walked down to Trio, very nice and a huge improvement on a previous visit. Great martinis!

The hummingbird next door has hatched and there are 2 babies. Something interesting I found out .... hummingbirds usually lay 2 eggs 24 hours apart but they both always hatch on the same day. Fascinating, I know!

Back to the weekend. Mainly return visitors which is always nice to see some familiar faces. I think the furthest travelled will be from Maryland. I'll let you know how it goes. Have a great Memorial Day holiday.

Here's a reason for living in Southern California ....

2011-05-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

How about 84f 29c @ 8.45pm today, May 4th 2011.

Tomorrow, Cinco de Mayo when we all pretend to be Mexican and try to remember what cinco de mayo is about. Not about Mayonnaise although you are more than welcome to spread some onto your burritto or your quesedilla. Better still on your nachos with mucho queso y pescos tacodores!

Por las attenciones, muchicimas gracias. Expecto gramaticas reparardes.

Don't try this at home!!!!!

2011-05-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Sitting outside the other night, early evening having a cocktail as you do. A distict smell of what smelt like caramel or burning sugar. Turns out one of our guests decided to dry a shirt in the microwave and it caught fire!!! Good going, Wayne.!!

Another realy lovely weekend here at the inn. Full for Saturday and 70% full for Sunday. Newcomer Shrader from LA ( he'll be back!) try to remember names next time!!!! Return visits from Bud and Trip from Atlanta,Thomas from Bellingham, WA, Greg and the aforementioned Wayne, Albuquerque, NM, Bill returning from San Diego and Rene from Carson not forgetting Will from Las Vegas. We have the best guests.

So, what did you think of the wedding? We got out of bed 2.30 Friday morning and had a lovely cup of tea watching the Queen et al arrive at the Abbey. Gorgeous, I think you'll have to agree. All those old Landaus, Rolls Royces and Bentleys. Not to mention the guardsmen and the horses! Boy, we know how to put on a show and you're welcome!!!!!

Check out the picture ..... Aaaaah, A humming bird on her nest right next door. It's a bit difficult to see where the nest ends and the bird begins but she is about the size of a big bee. The hummingbirds around these parts are the Ruby Throated variety but only the males have the Ruby throat. The females are a bit dare I say, dowdy!!! There should be a couple of youngsters in about a week.

Another couple of Idiots!!!!!!!

2011-04-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

You won't believe this ..... we told another couple to get out, go away and find somewhere else!!! Shoo, go away! They arrived yeserday, early evening having booked room 9 on the second floor with sling. Snooty to say the least. Want to see room before checking in. Came down saying oh we thought it would be bigger (!), and better appointed what ever that means! Stuart just looked them in the eye and said, 'give me the keys, don't bother' .. boy were they suprised!!!!!!!

We ended up filling the room, two lovely boys from Alisio Viejo!! They thought the room was so well appointed they never left! (Well, they did eventually this morning).

Excavators have arrived!!!!

2011-04-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

We knew it would happen one day, but whhyyyyyyy???? The lovely expanse of desert opposite the hotel is being developed. All the spring wild flowers we have enjoyed for the last 10+ years have been grubbed up and burried never to be seen again. How sad but there you go .... progress. Not only that but instead of taking a short-cut across the desert to our closest mail box, I have to walk all the way around, up onto Indian Canyon, down to the hospital I mean, how inconvenient is that!!!!

The land belongs to the Desert Regional Hospital .. a "for profit" Tennant hospital and it is to become a new parking lot (car park to you Europeans!) although when they wrote to us a couple of years ago they were only going to develope a corner, next to Helios. Doesn't look like that from our balconey. It looks more like they are building an ancient bronze age burial chamber!!!! At least they havn't started jack-hammering YET! I'll let you know how things 'progress'. At least, whatever it is, the main entrance will be on Mel, not Monte Vista. There's a blessing!!! (We hope).

The Ocotillo is in bloom!!!!!!

2011-04-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

We have waited for this to happen and here it is!!!! Our very own Ocotillo flower. One of several but this is the first!!!

Strange weekend just gone. We wern't quite full but we had visitors in from Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and, of course, California. All I can say to one of our day guests, (no names, but really ) ..... I thought you had at least a modicum of standards or taste. Obviously I was wrong! Yeukieee!!!

Coachella Valley Music Festival

2011-04-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

If you are expecting me to give you a rundown on the bands playing this weekend at the Coachella music festival, sorry to disappoint you!!!! You have to check out the Desert Daily News for that. All I know is, Sir Paul was helicoptered in as a VIP and quite rightly so. I went to Albertsons to do some grocery shopping this afternoon and had to wait at the deli counter whilst these young slim hipped children were served. Grandad (me) did a cicuit three times before I could get my Sara Lee low sodium chicken!!! I tell you .... Woodstock, where were we??? It really is a big deal. The Coachella Music Festival is the second biggest gathering of people in the United States, the Rose Bowl being the biggest. Astounding. It's held on the polo fields in Indio!!!!! Usually our friend Joe from New York has flown in for the festival. The tickets were sold so quickly, within 48 hours, he didn't make it this year. Joe, we miss you.

We did it again!!!!!!

2011-04-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know how we do it but I can safely say our 10th anniversary party yesterday afternoon was a great sucesses despite the cold wind. We have often been told we throw good parties and are asked what the secret is. There is no secret, it's all to do with the mix of friends, booze, food and music!!! That's all. Of course we only invite people we want to be with. Why would we bother with people we don't like??

It was especially pleasing to see Alex (Ironrod), his husband Hank and their boy butch. Don Thompson and Henry, John and Tony (you know, the two who, for better reasons known only to themselves, moved to Yucca), Mike and John (that's the professor and bon vivant) with their friend Jim (Gagbear)', Dennis, AJ, Peter and Jim in his toga. Erich (husband Doug couldn't make it), Paul C. had invited his impossibly handsome dentist Mo and another friend who's name escapes me and other various odds and sods we know. Our guests staying with us all had a good time. Jim and Gino couldn't make it. Thanks for the wine, guys!!!! Next party? Who knows. Every day is a party at Chaps Inn!!

Oh! I nearly forgot the food: How's about Ina Gartens Chopped Liver Pate, shrimp in a creamy sauce on a bun, Stuarts Pulled Pork (delish as ever), English cheddar cheese, a baked brie, I made a summer pudding and Stuart made a couple of lemon meringue's. Not forgetting Ina's Savory Couer a la Creme on crackers served with Major Greys chutney! How posh is that??? (Page 48, Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?).

I don't know where to start!!!

2011-04-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll start from the begining ..... we had taken a reservation from a couple of Mexican guys and they were due to arrive by 11.30am yesterday. When they hadn't arrived by 3pm, Stuart called their cell phone. They are on their way and will be with us by 7pm. Around 7pm they called us. "We're lost". They had somehow totally missed us and were now on East Palm Canyon going towards Cathedral City. "Turn around and come back to Palm Springs" they were told and given detailed directions on how to find us. They called half an our later. "Where are you" we asked. "Ummm, Date Palm Drive on a freeway!!". How they got onto the freeway from our directions is beyond us. Finally, they arrived after getting lost again for the third time. Not two as expected, but three. Stuart is now scrambling about gathering up a third set of towels etc. Two of them go into the room and were heard by Stuart to say "we'll check out the room to see if it's good enough!!!!" Good enough??? Well, the one guy who was in the office filling out the arrivals card was told we were only expecting two and there would be an extra charge of $20 per night for the third. He started to argue with me ... (I'd had a couple of g'n t's by then). He couldn't see why they had to pay extra. Something snapped. "Go away then," I said. He had that startled look like the proverbial deer/rabbit. I repeated, (very calmly I have to say), 'Go away, find somewhere else to stay, we don't want you money, go now, shuu and find somewhere 'nice' on a Friday on one of the busiest weekends of the year". And off they went into the dark night!!!!! Oh that felt GOOD! Call me Basil if you will but I don't care!!! After 10 years of owning an hotel, that was a first. Oh, I nearly forgot. The one who was arguing with me came back to the gate. "I left some papers in the office". Guess what they were?? Detailed instructions from Mapquest and they STILL managed to get lost. Idiots!!!

PARTY TIME

2011-04-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

To all our faithful blog followers:

Party here, 2pm-? Saturday April 9th our 10th anniversary party as Chaps Inn. No need to bring anything. You know us, never a shortage of anything!!

Woken to a trembling, earthshaking rumbling!!!!

2011-04-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

No, not an earthquake but the local authorities grubbing up the street outside disturbing everyone at 7am this morning. This is about a week after some men were sent to fill in the cracks and potholes. Now they've dug the whole thing up and gone away. Now it's worse than ever. I'm sure it will be right nice once they finish!!!

What do you make of this???

2011-04-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

Late yesterday afternoon we had a phone call from Martin, the previous owner of the Ambiente Inn and Black Palm. He sold the hotels a couple of years ago and they have been turned into apartments. The 'new' owner is suing Martin because he did not disclose that the hotels used to be gay and clothing optional. What that has to do with anything beats me. This has serious implications for all of us whether clothing optional or not. According to Martin, the letter he received was offensive and mentioned 'gay' and 'clothing optional' three times!

Luckily we have a Human Rights Campaign 'pop-up' shop opened recently in Palm Springs so Martin is going to call them and hopefully find a good lawyer. This is so outrageous and must not be allowed to go forward. This needs to be in all the Gay press.

A quote from the Los Angeles Times

2011-04-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you are aware, but a Southwest Airline jet was landed safely at Yuma, Arizona on it's way from Phoenix to Sacramento when the cabin decompressed.

I am quoting from the Los Angeles Times .... 'the missionary group, all dressed in identical orange t-shirts was (was? don't they mean were? My comment). returning home from a year in Los Angeles. Group member so and so aged 48 said they were unaware of the incident until they got in line to check their luggage.

Asked whether she was worried shrugged ."God is in control. We don't worry about it", she said. "The worst thing that can happen is we end up in heaven" ..........

I'll let that sink in for a moment ... surely if you are a christian,. that should be the BEST thing??????? Just a thought.

It Lives!!!!!!

2011-04-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

Our Ocotillo is alive and thriving. What appeared to be a big bunch of dead sticks 3 weeks ago has sprouted leaves and flower buds!!!! We are SO proud!!! There will be dramatic and brilliant orange flowers right at the tips of the stems and we can't wait. I know, I know!! It's a bit strange having a picture of an Ocotillo in a blog instead of naked men in stages of disaray, but you all know what that looks like and sometimes it ain't pretty!!!!!

This weekend is the Dianh Shore girls weekend so the entire town is filled to overflowing (believe me!) with ..... lesbian people. It's OK, we don't have to leave the property at all!! Talking of which, the girls from San Diego are taking over Chaps the last weekend in September so we become Chapesses Inn for 3 days! You have been warned!!

PS Our Pedalanthus is about to bloom! You'll have to look it up if you don't know what that is! I might not have the correct spelling but that's what my husband told me. "The Pedalanthus is in bloom again!".

Jim, we miss you!!

2011-03-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a welcome home picture!!! We missed you the moment you left. I waited on the balconey but didn't see you leave. Next year ..........????!!!!!

It's a busy time of year!!

2011-03-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, we have been so busy since I last blogged. March is always our busiest month but this March has been exeptional. Recession? What recession???? We have been full all weekend, tonight and tomorrow (Sunday and Monday) and all lovely people. Oh, one grouch but that's all. Everyone getting along, chatting, laughing and room hopping!! What kind of joint do they think this is??????

Guests in from Canada, England, Scotland, Dallas, Chicago, Arlington Virginia, Omaha Nebraska not to mention a splattering of guests from California!!!!!

I had a dental appointment yesterday, yes, Saturday! One small filling and a temporary crown over the tooth I broke last July in San Francisco. I was telling one of our day visitors that I had a crown put in. He said, 'Oh, I don't like crowns' Quick as a flash with no hestation whatsoever, Stuart came back and said 'What, an old queen like you doesn't like crowns" How we laughed!!!!

Tony goes to Yucca!!!

2011-03-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

We gave a party last night to say farewell to our friends Tony and John. After many years of being our neighbours they finally decided to jump ship and go and live in Yucca. We are still trying to figure out why!!!

Here's a picture of Tony with our friend Jim and on the right are Mike and John, (you know, the Proff and bon vivant).
Between Stuart, Jim and myself, we cooked up a storm!!!! Jim made ribs and chicken wings (delich). I made Ina Gartens Hummus and her rum raisin rice pudding!!!!! You all need to try that. Stuart made coleslaw and Ina's chopped liver and Paul supplied a wonderful potato salad. Yumo. Not to mention my lemon bars to help the rice pudding go down. It was a lovely evening but very cold, we had to put the heaters on. It is only March after all. We thought there would be tons of food left over but it seems we got it right.

Also making an appearance were Dennis, AJ, Peter, Jim and Jim (3 Jims altogether). John, Tony's other half. guests from the hotel, Scotty and Don.

Tonight, (Thurday) 90% full!!!!!!!!!

LOBOC See Post 11/19/2010

2011-03-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I promised more information about LOBOC, that is the Long Beach and Orange County m/c club. As I mentioned, we have been the host hotel for LOBOC since 2002. Before they left last year, they made reservations for this year, 2011. Without any warning we were dropped in favour of another hotel close by. To say we were disappointed is a real understatement of how we felt when we found out. Nobody called us, nobody came round to tell us and this is a group we have bent over backwards to accomodate for what would have been their 10th year. We turned away prospective guests because we were 'full', about 40 nights were lost because we believed we were still hosting the event. One of the members did eventually drop by. Apparently no-one wanted to tell us because the hotel (alright, it's Helios), is for sale and they were hedging their bets incase the hotel was sold and the new owners wouldn't honour the bookings!!! We know who is behind it all because he has made no bones about preferring Helios to us because "they have vegetation"
The event was supposed to be this weekend and we heard they have cancelled on Helios at very short notice. We don't know why yet but I can't imagine the Helios boys being too pleased. I guess they have burnt both bridges now. Where will you stay next year, huh? Warning all Palm Springs hoteliers .... watch out and make sure you get a sizable (non-refundable) deposit. Anyway, we were full this weekend and were able to take people wanting to stay for longer than a weekend so we ended up MUCH better off!

St Patricks Day

2011-03-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Mike and John (you know, the Professor and the bon vivant) invited us to their St Patricks day party at their expansive estate in North Palm Springs. Lovely and loads of food. Corned beef, cabbage and other lovely stuff! In attendance were ... Stuart and myself, Jim from Minneapolis, Bob and Harry, Tony and John (more about them later .. thay are moving to Yucca! Yes, there is a place called Yucca). Jim (the other Jim) who is very excited about his new job delivering stuff to old people on Medicare. Cathetars anyone?? Many many other people who's names escape me. More later .... I havn't mention LOBOC yet ........

Moving on ....

2011-03-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

We continue to be delighted with our new landscaping and here's a picture of something with flowers!!! My Grandmother collected cacti for years, gathering dust on her window sill. Nothing ever flowered not to mention they never grew a spit, (this is England we are talking about!) She would be thrilled to see this.

Still here!!

2011-03-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Despite not posting since February 19th, we're still here. Having been chastised by our friend Jim from 'the Cities' on numerable occasions during the last week I have decided to bring you up to date but where to begin?? I think starting from today and working back .....

Today, Friday March 18th we are one of the host hotels for Chubfest and you can check that out on http://www.chubsrule.com/ we have a full house and it is a very busy month for us. March usually is. Apart from Jim from Minneapolis, we have Don from Toronto back again for 33 days and international guests from Edinburgh and London but most of our guests this weekend are from California, (San Diego, Vallejo, Long Beach, Simi Valley) but also from Illinoise and Colorado. Promises to be a lovely weekend weather wise.

Not very nice weather!!!!!!

2011-02-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

It has turned miserably wet for Presidents Day Weekend. It rained all night (boo hoo) which is particularly annoying as I washed down the deck yesterday. As our guests started to arrive, the temperatures dropped and the clouds rolled in over the mountain. Never mind, here's a cheerful picture of one of our new cacti in bloom a few days ago just outside our front gate. Aaahhhhhh!!!

Once again, the majority of guests are return visitors. We welcome back Sam and Justin , Rudy and Walter from Los Angeles, Jay from St Paul (see you in a few weeks, Jim!). Ron from Atlanta, 2 visitors from Canada and one from England. Not to mention Peoria, Arizona. Great to see you all. Thanks for coming back!!!! Ooop, I nearly forgot to mention the two lovely boys from Santa Ana who stayed last weekend. Please come back! (no names, as requested!!!!).

Here's another picture, this time the aloe next to the steps going to rooms 7 and 8. We call it our Neptunes Trident plant for obvious reasons. In a few days they will have brilliant yellow flowers. Sorry, no pictures of naked men around the pool. Far too wet and cold. No doubt the steam room will be made use of this weekend!!!!! We''ll see how many can fit in at the same time!

Marc Langet

2011-02-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

It was with great sorrow we heard the news that one of our regular visitors had died. Marc was born in France but lived in Belgium and was working for the EU in Brussels. A gentle giant all 6ft 5inches. He took some of the pictures for us on our website. He loved to travel, loved Palm Springs but most of all, he loved us and staying at Chaps Inn. We will miss him greatly. Lovely to see you, Gerard. Next time bring happier news!!!!!

Don't cry for us!!!!! (Agentina or anywhere!!).

2011-02-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

LOL. I know the rest of the world is suffering with record rainfall, low temperatures, snow up the wazzu, winds, plague, pestilence, locusts and frogs falling from the sky but, here in sunny Southern California, to be precise, Palm Springs, we woke to a low at 7.00 this morning of exactly 32f, 0 centigrade on our thermometer. I rushed to grab the camera to take a picture of this momentous occasion. By the time I got back, the temp had risen by 1 1/2 degrees, so what was the point?! Just so you know, it was up in the mid 70's later and people were sunbathing NAKED around the pool!!! Rush and book your tickets NOW!!!!! This is the place to be.

It's been 2 weeks?

2011-02-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

My, how time flies. Can it really be a fortnight since I last wrote??? I should've made a resolution at the New Year to 'write more often!'. I didn't!! Just a quickie, the weather here has been fantastic, mid 70's most days and a welcome change from all that rain. The mountains are looking green and the wildflowers are poking through. The season has started well despite a slow start. Looking forward to seeing some (if not all) of you this year.

The sun arrived!!!

2011-01-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!! It has been a while. Today, January 14th, we were able, for the first time since before Christmas, to wear shorts and t-shirts and/or go naked!!! Weather forecast for the weekend, mid to late 70's(f)

Stuart and I have spent the last couple of days clearing out 10 years of crap!!! We rented a skip (dumpster, in American) and severly under estimated the size we needed. We had a 3 cubic yard skip delivered and we filled it in a flash. We had to call the Palm Springs Disposal Service for another. This time we got an 18 footter!!! It fills up one entire parking spot from side to side and top to bottom. Pictures to follow! You can't imagine the stuff that can accumulate but really this isn't the first time we have had a good clear out. All the old vertical blinds from the rooms needed to go and you can't imagine how many dried up pots of paint we had. I admit, there was some stuff that we brought with us 10 years ago which should have been dumped then but you know how that is!!! It continues tomorrow with Lowe's having one of their electronic drives ... TV's, computers, hair dryers you name it they'll take it for re-cycling. They also shred paperwork in a huge shredder so goodbye to years of accumulated paper. All for free!!

The question has already been asked .... are you planning on selling? Well, I can see why anyone would think that. Landscaping the parking lot to give some 'kerb appeal' and now not one but two skips in the parking lot!!!!! No, not for sale. Sorry neighbours, we're staying!!!! Maybe we watch too much HGTV!! By the way, The View is for sale, previously the Indianola. $1,300,000 if anyone is interested.

The year has started very well. Long may it continue. Tonight we are 60% full. All new guests except one room. Hank arrives from Guernville tomorrow for an annual visit so welcome back!!!!! That will make us 70% full. I am so glad we have 10 rooms it makes the %'s so easy!!!

Oh Oh, You all heard Chief Domiquez has resigned due to the Warm Sands Sting??? Well, retired to spend time with his family as he puts it. Good riddance to bad rubbish. No tears for him, he'll be alright. But what about the 19 men arrested in 2009 still waiting their fate? Note to new District Prosecutor .. drop all charges.
That's all!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!!

2011-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody and a very happy New Year!! We celebrated in fine style at 4pm last night which was 12 midnight in England. I think that might become a tradition. At least we were in bed by 10pm as usual!!!! Ken and Mark dropped by, as did Mike and John, Jim and Gino, Tony and as many guests who wanted to have a glass of champagne!!! Stuart made his lovely filo pizza, I baked a brie (thanks to Peggi for the idea!). Home made hommus, filo tartlets filled with salmon mousse and lashings of champagne!!!! Talking of lashings, unfortunately Dennis a AJ couldn't be here due to work commitments. The cake is a traditional English ChristmasCake. Stuart made two, one for 2010 and another for 2011 which will be fed regularly with alcohol throughout the year. For all those who think they don't like fruit cake, this would make you a fan!!!!!

Back home!!

2010-12-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

There has been a long gap since my last blog entry. I have been visiting friends and family in England for a few days, managed to get out just before the snow fell and closed all the airports. Lucky me!!! And lucky not just in that sense; I got upgraded by British Airways to business class!!! Woweee, what a difference that makes. Champagne on the runway, decent food, good wine and a proper quilt not to mention the bed to lay flat on! What luxury! Spoilt for ever now!

The main thing that was done when I was away is the landscaping in the parking lot and inside around the pool. I hope all our visitors will notice and I am sure the shade provided by our new trees out the front will be much appreciated during the summer heat. I haven't taken any pictures of the completed outside the front. Weather isn't conducive to good photo taking!!!!

You have heard of the House that Jack built??? well ... here's the fence that Stuart built

2010-11-27T22:00:00.000-08:00

Look at this!!! Our new fence that Stuart built all by himself. I was in Los Angeles and came back to this!!!

This is just the begining of the new landscaping look for our parking lot.

Dropped as LOBOC host hotel!!!!

2010-11-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

We heard a rumour last week that LOBOC (Long Beach and Orange County) motor cycle club have dropped us as their host hotel after 9 years. No explanation, nobody bothered to call us even though they made the reservation for 2011 when they left this last March. Oh well, such is life. No doubt we will discover the reason but there are several members not happy about it. There is an individual who has made no bones about preferring the other place. Good luck to them.

Groups who book the hotel for two nights at weekends and think they are doing us a favour are not. They block people who want to come in for a longer time. We actually lose by it.

We are looking forward to our new landscaping staring Monday. I will post before and after pictures. Five Palos Verdes in the parking lot with a collection of cactus. It'll be lovely when they finish; our bank account will not!!!! Oh well .... that's show biz!!!

Same building ....... different flags!!!!

2010-11-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

This is Leather Pride weekend and here we are, decked out for the party!!!! We are so pleased we have the balconey to fly our flags from No doubt there is a local ordinance which limits the number of flags that can displayed at one time.

Lovely weeked forecast, mid 80'sF. Eat your heart out, people. Just look at that sky!!! Visitors from Australia and Germany left this morning. We have guests from Scotland checking in later this afternoon. Don from Toronto and guests from all over the US; AZ, OR, CA, NM, WA. Tonight is the Palm Springs Mr. Leather competion of which we are major sponsors (so we get in free, sort of!). There was a Skip sighting at the Tool Shed parking lot fair last night. We will try to avoid him if he makes an appearance tonight! Maybe I should put a copy of his bill in my pocket!!!

Happy Gay Pride!!!!!!!

2010-11-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

All decked out for Gay Pride weekend, mmmmmmm .. must be room for more flags!!!

Looking forward to the weekend although we will miss some of our regulars this year, DJ and Al amongst them. 10 years ago this weekend was our first weekend in the hotel and it was Gay Pride weekend. We were full, not for gay Pride but for a maths convention!! A maths professor from UC Santa Barbara had booked the entire place for himself and students at a bargain rate. Apparently an annual event. Boy, was he pissed off when we told him he couldn't book for the next year!!

10 years ago we had our friend Todd staying with us, and also our friends Bill and Dave. Sadly Todd passed last year and we heard from Dave that Bill died this last week. :(

Also, today in the United Kingdom is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day ... not an offical holiday but one where people light fires and set off fireworks in celebration of the capture of Guy Fawkes trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. An effigy of him is often burnt on fires but nowadays it is often an unpopular politian. Maggie Thatcher was one of the most popular figures burned and long shall it remain so!!! Guy (Guido) Fawkes jumped from the scafolding and broke his neck before the hang man got is hands on him and thus he escaped the painful hanging, drawing and quartering which was so popular in those days. What? No flogging?
Here's a silly little ditty we used to sing in the school playground on November 5th ......
Build a bonfire, build a bonfire,
Put the teachers on the top.
Put the prefects in the middle
And burn the bloody lot!!!!!
(Witty, eh?).

Congratulations to us!!!!

2010-10-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are, our 10th anniversary of moving to Palm Springs! How unbelievable is that? No doubt some of our fellow inn keepers are thinking the same thing!!!!!! Showed them . HA! In your faces!!! Now I suppose we have to make plans for the next 10 years including retirement. Neither of us wants to be doing this in 10 years time even though we love it. The thing we would both like to do is continue living here but close down as an hotel. I doubt if that will happen but we love it so much it will be a painful wrench to leave. Maybe we'll feel different about that down the line.

Thank you all for making this journey such a joy. When we first moved we had no idea we would meet such lovely people. Most of you know the story of Helen (see blog Feb 23rd), our first long term guest before we opened as Chaps. When she left after staying with us for 5 months she wished us all the best luck in the world. I told her we were keeping the old Colibri sign incase we went bust in the first couple of years we could revert. Well, girl, we didn't go bust but we do still have the old sign!!!!! (for ever a pessimist!!).

The BIG party will be next year, around Easter. We'll keep you posted of those plans. Also we have some new ideas for next summer ..... later!!!

Halloween is coming!!!

2010-10-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

I started putting up the Hallowe'en decorations this afternoon and can't believe another year has gone by so quickly. Some of the decorations are from when we lived at Radford Avenue in North Hollywood nearly 10 years ago (more about that later) and some collected from Hallowe'en shows in Chicago when John and I manned a booth in Chicago for 3 1/2 days every March from 1993 to 2001. Oh, happy days and aching feet!!! Not to mention a strain on the old chuckle muscles!!! OK, I'll retake the pictures tomorrow WITHOUT the flash!!

I don't think we'll be splashing out on anything new this year. We are not having a party but if Tony turns up in drag, there's a party right there and enough to scare anybody!!!! It is Tony's birthday on Saturday.

I mentioned we moved to Palm springs nearly 10 years ago. In fact, October 31st will be our 10th anniversary of moving. We can't believe we've been here for so long and still love it. We woke up here November 1st 2000, both of us having the same thoughts 'what have we done, we don't know anything about running an hotel'. Turns out ... what's to know? Any fool can clean a toilet and make beds. We always treat our guests as we would like to be treated ourselves and that has served us well. Did we make a business plan? No, of course not!!!! We have always treated suggestions for improvement with the urgency that they deserve!!! Shortly after we opened and we were still called the Colibri Inn, two queens stayed here for a couple of nights. As they were leaving, one of them offered up some advice for improvment 'you need to have more hangers in the closet'! Well, girl, there are still as many hangers in the closets today as there was when you stayed with us. Thanks for the advice!!!! See, treated with the urgency it deserved!!
I'll let you know how we decided to celebrate later!!!

Still going on about the weather!!!!

2010-10-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

After a perfect Palm Springs weekend and a beautiful day yesterday, our dear friends John, Angela,(aka Doris) their son John and Grandchildren Sofie and Tom drove in from West Toluca Lake for lunch. We had horrendous weather; thunder lightening and rain like we have never seen before in all our 10 years in Palm Springs. Not to be downcast (we English are a hearty lot and never let a bit of rain ruin the day), we went to Escena Golf Club and had a great table inside overlooking the golf course. I hope it won't be another 10 years before they visit again and see how beautiful Palm Springs really is. Needless to say, because of the weather, the San Jacinto Mountains were shrouded in cloud so there was not much of a view. Lunch, recommended. We also spotted our friend Doug power lunching at an adjacent table.

Apart from that, the weekend was a great success and we don't have a day between now and Thanksgiving where we have no guests. Alright you other hotel owners who check out our blog and our parking lot, the next few weeks and continuing through Thanksgiving, we have several guests without cars. You can't judge a book by it's cover!!!!!

Columbus Day Weekend.

2010-10-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Once again we have the best guests. Returning visitors and new guests who we hope will become future return visitors. This weekend we have guests from England (London and Bournemouth), la belle France, Australia and from the USA California, Missouri, Utah and New Mexico. Welcome back to Tracy and the boys. 50 indeed!!! Youngster!!!!

Stuart has been busy running up curtains (!) ... So, two Bob's, number 9 is ready for you!!! Next weekend is one of our favorites, the 'Latham Weekend,' a group of friends from San Diego taking the entire place for 3 nights. Gay, straight and Australian if I'm not mistaken. This must be their third or fourth year. Pictures to be posted!!

Me and my big mouth!!!

2010-10-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

What was I saying about lightening without thunder????

Well, Thursday night 10.15 we had a doozie!! I was woken up (yes, we go to bed early in these parts!) by a strange noise which turned out to be rain. RAIN!!!! Then the lightening and thunder started. We both got out of bed and stood on our patio whilst the storm raged over our heads. The guttering couldn't hold the amount of water coming down so it was pouring out of the guttering in sheets, just like Viagra Falls! Anyway. it didn't last long but the next morning I had to wash down because of the amount of sand and dirt washed off the roof and from the trees. But now ... Sunday morning, lovely, clear, blue and calm. Peace returned. AAahhhhhh back to normal.

Those damned lying Beach Boys!!!

2010-09-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

It DOES rain in Southern California!!! Well, we had a spit and a spot this morning. Woke up to grey clouds and lightening way in the distance (no thunder, I mean, what's the point of having lightening without thunder?

Heres a bad little ditty:
The god of thunder was riding by
Upon his favorite filly.
"I'm Thor", he cried, the horse replied,
"You forgot your thaddle thilly!". .... One of Stuarts favorites along with "The Duke of Tranmire ... "Oh well, ask him when you see him!!!!
,

Anyhoo ...... The first picture was taken at 8.45 this morning. The second was taken 3 hours later and da daah, sun again!!!

Our International guest list has grown .. we now have guests in from SW Australia, Switzerland and Canada (Toronto).

Back to the Palm Springs sting (see previous blogs). It has occured to me that maybe the Chief of police and the head of the police association are so homophobic they are doing what they are doing on purpose to stop gays visiting Palm Springs? Say it ain't so, ma!!!!

Another great weeken in Paradise!!!!

2010-09-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

The summer isn't over yet in Palm Springs. Temps up to 115f, long warm nights and more to come. We love it and you won't hear us complain about the heat not like a lot of moaning minnies around here.
We are having a great September and things are looking good for October. Over the last couple of weeks we hosted international visitors from Ottawa (Canada), Folkstone (England), and Hamburg (Germany). Our dear friend James came out from LA for the weekend so we had a lot of catching up to do. We are amazed it is 3 1/2 years since his partner, Richard, died. Apart from California, we also had long term visitors in from Dayton OH, Atlanta GA. The guests from Dayton knew a friend of a friend of ours from England .... what a small world!

More news on the Warm Sands sting operation. It would appear that the gay slur was issued by our beloved Chief Dominquez all along and he was there a lot longer than a couple of hours. He has been caught on tape telling the officers that they deserve more pay for 'doing this'. You're on your way out Chief and good riddance. (You can check out all the latest on http://www.mydesert.com/)

Talking of 'stings'. See previous blog!!

2010-09-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here we were the other day sitting out enjoying a glass of wine when a huge wasp flew into Stuarts glass. He fished it out and put it in the hybiscus. It later flew out (drunkenly) and landed on Tony's side and stung him!! (See picture of sting ointment on Tony's side). Now, trying to get a wasp sting out of somebody who can't keep still is a bit of a trial ... but I did it, hero that I am!!!!

Now, talking of sting operations, it transpires that the Chief of Palm Springs Police Dept, David Dominquez was at the scene of the sting operation in Warm Springs for part of the entrapment fiasco. So, another e-mail address to add to the list on the previous blog .... chief@pspd.com. Was it Dominquez who uttered the gay slur? Time will tell and the truth will be out.

I havn't heard a word from anybody I e-mailed regarding this disgusting blot on Palm Springs reputation. I think I'll send it again and include the 'chief'.

Onward and upward, another lovely weekend here in Palm Springs. International visitors in from Canada and England; then Hawaii, Indiana, Northern and Southern California. Some regular visitor and some we hope will become regular visitors.

We are coming to the end of our 'off peak' season where everyone wants a bargain ... we blame organisations like Travalocity and Priceline for all this trying to 'negotiate prices'. We want you to stay with us because you want to stay with us; not because we're CHEAP. That said, next summer we will be offering rooms at 2001 prices to celebrate our 10th anniversay of opening as Chaps Inn (we were The Colibri Inn for 5 months until then). Watch this space and the website for further details.

At least 3 of our guests have visited Whitewater since they saw the entry on the blog. None of them knew it existed!!! Stuart and I hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Palm Springs Sting operation

2010-09-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

In June last year, the Palm Springs Police Department carried out a sting operation in the Warm Sands neighbourhood using the 'pretty police' as agents provocateurs enticing gay men and arresting them for indecent behavour. There were 19 men arrested and they have been waiting for over a year for the cases to come to court. If found guilty, these men will have to register as sexual preditors for the rest of their lives. There have been a few letters to the local paper, some supporting the police (no suprises there) and some expressing their disgust at the Police Depatment use of the officers time. One officer was captured on tape issuing a gay slur. We don't know what it was but no doubt we'll find out.

Mr.Paul Abshire, President of the Palm Springs Police Officers Association had an article published recently in the Desert Sun praising his officers (of course he would)and defending the operation. Our dear friend Peter Fiske has been in contact with the Mayor of Palm Springs and has received some encouraging feedback. I have e-mailed Abshire, the Mayor and other members of the City Council and would encourage you all to do the same.
Here is a copy of my e-mail ... no response so far

TO: Paul Abshire

This is in response to an e-mail sent to you by Peter Fiske, dated 08/27/2010

I agree entirely with everything Peter has said but I want to add my own comments from the perspective of an hotel owner in Uptown.

The use of police officers as agents provocateurs is to be deplored. To entice men to commit sexual acts in public is outrageous.

A comment made by one of your officers at the hearing in Riverside is quoted in the Desert Sun as referring to the hotels in Warm Sands as ‘those so called inns”. I hope you realize how insulting that remark is, not only to the hotel owners in Warm Sands but hotels all over the valley. No amount of ‘sensitivity training’ will compensate for the damage done within the gay community and the trust in the PSPD is gone, perhaps never to return.

This outrageous incident has been covered extensively by the gay press not only in the United States but more importantly overseas. The damage done worldwide to the reputation of Palm Springs as a city of tolerance has been lost.

I hope you realize how much money comes into this town from gay travelers by way of room tax, retail spending and restaurants, a large part of which will be lost forever thanks to you and your officers. Not a force to be proud of.

All charges against the men enticed by your officers must be dropped. The officer responsible for uttering a gay slur should apologize. We need to hear more from the Mayor on what is being done by him and the city. An open letter to one of the local gay papers would be a start.

Sensitivity training indeed!!!! This is something you all should have been taught by your parents; not the PSPD.

Ian Harper
Chaps Inn, Uptown, Palm Springs

I have copied this to all the City Council Members, including Mayor Pougnet. No response yet!!
Here are their e-mail addresses:
rick.hutcheson@palmsprings-ca.gov; ginny.foat@palmsprings-ca.gov; chris.mills@palmsprings-ca.gov; lee.weigel@palmsprings-ca.gov; paul.abshire@palmsprings-ca.gov; steve.pougnet@palmsprings-ca.gov

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well another wonderful, fantastic weekend with lots of old friends and some some newbies. Visitors from CA, WA, OR, DC, PA, New Zealand and Finland. Very international. Everybody had a wonderful time, the weather was perfect, (early 100's), warm evenings, fabulous pool at a perfect temperature 84F and the misting system working overtime. Ho hum, what a life!!!! The nights are drawing in now signaling the end of another summer boo hoo!!!! Our last guest left this morning so we now have the place to ourselves but only for one night.

I have only just realised we don't have any pictures of our children. Mack and Mabel. Well, here they are, Mack the black and white, Mabel the white and black absolutely adorable!!! No comment about Pussies at Chaps Inn, that would be far too childish!

Went to Whitewater; another reason to visit Palm Springs.

2010-09-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Dennis, AJ, Peter and myself went to the Whitewater Preserve just north of Palm Springs last Sunday morning. Peter and I had never been before and we were very impressed. We've heard of and seen Joshua Trees National Monument but the best thing is, Whitewater is FREE!!! Nowhere near as big as Joshua Trees but FREE!!!!! Here they are, Peter, Dennis and AJ. No amount of ridiculing will make Peter get rid of those horrendous shorts or ridiculous hat!!!

We enjoyed a wander (some might call it a 'hike')through the riparian vegetation and a few steps on the trail with an eye out for the Longhorn sheep but to no avail. We took in the old trout farm (no, not where they keep old trout)and decided one day we would all go there for a picnic.

The rock formations are spectacular with plenty of boulders hanging on the side of mountains waiting to come crashing down .. so no loud noises, please!!!

Later on, Stuart and I took ourselves off to our new favourite brunch place, Escena,a restaurant at the club house of a spectacular golf course east of Palm Springs. Well worth the visit; the views are wonderful. I took my camera with me but left the memory card in the printer! Oh well, next time!!

The 15 Association came to visit!!!!

2010-08-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

The 15 Association came to visit and it was a wild weekend!!! Almost all of the 15 now live here in Palm Springs so the weekend has become to be known as 'The deserters Run!!'. For those who don't know the 15, you should check out their website, www.the15association.org.

AJ had his annual branding (looking a bit scabby!). The initials are Dennis's not "Dear God" as someone was heard to proclaim!!!There was a lot of tying up and restraining going on. A deaf guy was put into a straight jacket, at his request, I might add. A bit like putting a gag on a hearing person don'tcha think? Thanks to Peter (Whipmaster) Fiske for organising.

We had some spectacular sunsets!!!! Nothing to do with the 15, just thought I'd mention it!!! Mmmm might make a nice picture for the website.

Jim and Gino's anniversary party

2010-08-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Another great party thanks to Jim, Gino and friends. Great food, Jim's turkey chilli, chicken, bratts, wieners not to mention my cucumber salad courtesy of Ina Garten (bless you, goddess!!).
Today we heard the news we need to get a new pool heater, this on top of the expense of getting the pool resurfaced tiled and brought up to code. (Final inspection tomorrow). Why is it, heater is working fine, turned off for 10 days, turned it on and now it's f*@cked! Oh well, it's not as if we had anything else to spend $3,500 on!!!! It's not as if we HAVE $3,500 to throw around!! I suppose we don't have to heat the pool like many other hotels, just like we don't HAVE to have an ice machine @#*&%$@ish.... rant over.

We are hosting the 15 Association (the deserters) this weekend. It promises to be a fun weekend with the usual suspects attending! Report and photo's to follow.

Pool is OPEN!!!!

2010-08-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had a great pool opening pool party on Saturday and here we are, cutting the 'ribbon'!. All the usual misfits, miscreants and ne'er do wells ..... (oh, sorry, that was San Francisco!!!!). All our favorite people .. Dennis & AJ, Jim & Gino, even Soloman and Chris (Soddam & Gommorah),their friend Darwin (Australian I assume!).... Peter Fisk, Peter Pumper, Paul Crippan and a couple of English boys, Erich, Tony & John, Dennis & Kenny, about 15 altogether. A great time was had by all.

Stuart made pulled pork (fabulous) and I made Ina Gartens Mac and Cheese with Cheddar, Gruyere and Blue cheese as fab as the pulled pork!!!! Followed by Lemon Meringue.

Back to the pool!!!

2010-07-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

I must say it looks awesome .. wow .... we are so pleased. Most people won't notice. We now have a line at the 4 1/2ft depth woweeeee. We are sooo modern and up to date. Check out the new tile. The pool and spa match for the first time ever. We are thrilled.
Party Saturday night, 6.00pm to celebrate the opening.

And then we have Dore Alley!!!!

2010-07-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

What can I say about San Francisco, especially the neighbourhood beween Folsam, Mission, Market and 7th! The usual misfits, miscreants and ne'er do wells!!!!

We're Back

2010-07-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

We are back from our 2nd annual Dore Alley weekend in San Francisco but before that, I have to tell you about the pool and spa... They are both so f@#*ing fabuloso. You can't believe how good it looks or feels. The plaster underfoot is so smooth and we now have a demarcation line at the 4.1/2 foot depth to warn stupid people they are about to go into the deep end!!!. Here's me, half pissed when the draining started.

We are now in full compliance of the VGB act of Congress and we feel so much better for the experience. The wallet doesn't appreciate the experience!! We left for San Francisco Friday Morning at 8.15. They had tiled and they were just starting to plaster. They started to fill the pool at 3.00pm Friday and it took 26 hours!! Here are some pics but they will change. I can't tell you how pleased we are but you might've guessed!!

It's started!!!!

2010-07-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

We have started draining the pool. 35,000 gallons of 92 degree water down the drain.

The shame of it is ... all that wasted water. Oh well, we'll be filling it on Thursday with 35,000 gallons of COLD water.

Thanks to John, Mike and Jim

2010-07-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to Mike, John and Jim for inviting us to dinner at their gorgeous spacious estate in Palm Springs. Mike on the left, Jim in the middle and John on the right. A good time was had by all. Lovely dinner. Julia would be proud. It was Bastille day believe it or not!!!!We drank a toast to the French! Paul was also there as a fellow invitee. We all used to be neighbours, y'know!

Here we are being attacked by the hooded executioner ... he's got a little list!!! Or maybe it was the cocktails!!!

Today we found out our booth number for Dore Alley .... 22 .. right on Folsom Street in the thick of it. We hope!!! We are both looking forward to it. You wait till you see our new 6ft tall silk palm trees to decorate the booth!! Everybody will be SO jealous!! And we can put lights on them and reuse them for Christmas!!!!!

Camera's back

2010-07-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Finally, we got the camera back and is working (so far), as can be witnessed by Jim and Gino frolicking in the pool last night! (Gino pretending to be a 'top'! Thanks to Jim for feeding us burgers and hotdogs.

This weekend is 'Wet 'n Hot' weekend. Don't ask, I know nothing!!! Lips are sealed but we do have some lovely guys staying with us from Australia, mostly CA but also DC and CO. Well, it certainly is hot AND humid .. 40% humidity here in Palm Springs and that's high for us!!!! Boo Hoo poor us!!!!!!

That's it for the summer. The pool gets drained next Sunday and the work starts Monday morning. When I get back from LA Wednesday it will all be done. I hope. Closed for 10 days incorporating Dore Alley in San Francisco for the weekend July 23rd-25th. Mike and John will be staying at the same hotel as we are. See you all there!

July 4th weekend

2010-07-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, it was a wonderful weekend, old friends, new guests, one of those weekends where everyone had a great time. It was hot but why would I mention that .. it's July!!

The days all meld together .... Let me see ... oh, a kami kazi sparrow flew into the pool Saturday evening as we were sitting out cocktailing! He was chasing another sparrow (I guess it's mating season),they flew really low over the pool and flop ... bird in pool! That was a first!! Stuart went to the rescue and fished him out with the pool net. He survived, you'll be glad to hear. (The bird, I mean!).

What else, oh, July 4th fireworks ... great view from our balconey. I think eventually 12 of us were up there ooohing and aaahing and carrying on. Tony joined us of course. Visitors in from Ireland and all three western states, OR, WA and CA. The day visitors, Paul, Erich, Neil, Patrick and Gordie entertaining our guests. They know their job!

We couldn't make Mike and Johns party July 3rd sorry to say. Thanks to everyone for making it such a fun weekend. You all make it worthwhile owning an hotel and you know who you are ....
Next weekend is the Wet 'n Hot weekend. We are one of the 'overflow' hotels!!! Pardon the pun. I'll letcha know how it goes. After that ... nothing much until the middle of August with Dore Alley in between!!

50% full tonight, Tuesday. Wow!