Star of "Stonecastle Inn"

Star of “Stonecastle Inn”

We’re officially out of the house, and staying at… an inn, much to Star’s satisfaction. And why wouldn’t she like it? She is, after all, Star of “Stonecastle Inn” fame.

This is no Stonecastle however, and it’s safe to assume that Star is enjoying her stay more than the rest of us.

Why, you ask? Let’s just say that in the three years since we moved here, back when this inn was freshly remodeled, things have gone downhill a bit.

Let’s not just say that, let’s go into detail!

First there’s the cantankerous elevator. Sometimes it goes up, and sometimes… it doesn’t go sideways, but the door closes, it waits a while, then opens again. Some of us are more patient than others, and have tried waiting it out to see how long it’ll take for the thing to work. But none of us have the patience to wait long enough to find out.

We found out about it’s surly nature the night we arrived, though. After depositing Emily and Indy in the room, at which time the elevator did comply, Brad and I headed back down to search for a cart to cart back the cats, hamster, and multiple suitcases. After a very long walk all the way through the place, we found one. We walked all the way back, and out into the freezing wind, where we managed to load almost everyone and everything. Back inside we were glad to get, and just as glad that the elevator was right by the door. We pressed the button, and it opened. We labored to wheel in the cart, because loaded down with that much cat, hamster, and stuff, it wasn’t easy to maneuver. We pressed the button for our floor, and being the patient person I am, I pressed the “close” button. I think I made it mad, because it didn’t. So I pushed it again. And again. And finally it did, slowly and rather passive aggressively in my opinion. It “dinged” much as a dying cow might, if cows made such a sound at all. And then, the door opened.

So, we tried pushing the button for our floor again. Same thing. We wheeled out the cart, then wheeled it back in. We tried placing the cart near the door, near the back of the elevator, I looked at the weight capacity and thought that unless Pandy , who happens to be built like a tank, added on over 2,000 pounds since leaving the parking lot, no way were we over the weight limit.

Frustrated by this time and feeling passive aggressive ourselves, we pushed all the buttons. Several times, hoping to annoy the irritating contraption. It dinged like a dying cow, and just sat there while the door continued to open and close.

So we wheeled out the cart, which I began to think just might exceed the 2,500 pound weight limit after all, and looked at the door to the stairs across the hall.

And I said no. Just–no! Not that Brad was chomping at the bit to climb up and down those stairs fifty times, carrying our cats, hamster, and stuff, which I was sure by now, easily exceeded 3,000 pounds.

There’s got to be another elevator, though. So we took off with our cart, which dragged more than it rolled, considering each of our cats weighed at least 5,000 pounds, and the hamster 500. And we dragged, and pushed, and barely made it around several corners, and finally at the entire other end of this place, we found another elevator.

It worked, but then we had to travel all the way back, since our room was right beside the passive aggressive elevator.

And then… I’ll just have to continue this tomorrow, or whenever I have more energy than I do right now. Because it’s been a long day, and tomorrow will be just as long. And the next will be even longer! We’ll say goodbye to Colorado, and hello to Texas.

So until next time, happy reading!