Busy Weeks!

Things are abuzz around the Lesmeister Guesthouse! The carpenters have packed up and left, moving on to begin restoration of the old Pocahontas train depot, which will soon become our local tourist information and welcome center.

At The Lesmeister there has been cleaning and more cleaning. This morning I unpacked plates, glasses, silverware, toasters, coffee makers, and all the other kitchen items I purchased months ago (when I thought the project would be finished in mid October as originally planned).

This afternoon I shopped at Lowes (for another 1600 lumen LED light bulb to put more light on The Cistern), Sam’s Club (for individual packets of coffee, creamer, sugar, and sweeteners), Hobby Lobby (for little baskets to hold the coffee, creamer, sugar, and sweeteners), Bed Bath & Beyond (for 8 pillows for 2 beds…must have both firm and soft pillows on each bed), and Pier One Imports (picking up a dining table and chairs (see photo above), a desk, end tables, and more stuff I ordered a couple of weeks ago).

The first real guest is due to arrive May 16 (he’s from the state hospitality assn. and will be speaking at our annual tourism banquet that night), and a well-known former state senator has contacted me to occupy an apartment a few days in late May. It’s good to have a deadline to push me to get everything in place by then. TV cable, internet, and phones are due to be hooked up Monday, then the place will really be habitable (nobody could possibly live there until the cable and internet are working).

Also this week I set up a Lesmeister Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a Google+ page. I finished putting together the guest welcome books that are now in each apartment, with info on how to work the heat and air, heated floors, whirlpool tubs, where the nearest pharmacy and ATM machines are, etc.

Finally, the rumor around town is that an Italian restaurant in Jonesboro has leased a building across the street from The Lesmeister to put a branch of their operation in Pocahontas! Yes, busy weeks indeed!