A Valentine's Blog for Dan, the love of my life!

I am writing this Valentine's Day Blog to my husband to let the "world" know how much I love Dan, truly the love of my life. Yes, this is the man who created our home (and the Elkhorn Inn) from, essentially, a pile of bricks & mud (a pretty darn romantic concept in itself), but he is also the man of my dreams, and the great love of my life, and I want to shout that from the rooftops!

There is a joke floating about in email to the effect that a woman needs at least 6 men in order to be happy: the Romantic Lover, the Dancer who'll swing her around the dance floor, the Handyman, the Breadwinner, the guy that makes her laugh, etc. I got all of them in Dan!

So I not only get to sleep with Chef Dan, I get to sleep with the Restoration Architect, the Electrician, the Plumber, the Engineer, the Mechanic, the Internet Guru, the Lifesaver, the Hunter, the Romantic, the Landscape Designer, the Swing Dancer, the "fun" guy to play golf and go ATVing with, AND the Sexy Wood-Chopping Guy who's a dab hand with a chainsaw! HOW LUCKY CAN A GIRL GET?!

(He, by the way, gets to sleep with the WebMistress, the Laundress, the ebay Queen, & Disaster Babe...)

When I was in the hospital in Oct-Nov 2006, (and only alive because of Dan to begin with), I was literally swollen purple and green, had hands and feet the size of purple footballs, my hair matted to my head, and was tethered to 14+ IVs. I needed underwear... & Dan brought me the gift of a bag of thongs. And then a tray of sushi!

That's how I know he loves me!

6 years ago , when we had just started restoring what would become the Elkhorn Inn, Dan was interviewed by the Welch newspaper and gave them a quote that to me is still the most romatic thing I can imagine. He said, in the newspaper, for all the world to see: "I'm where I want to be, doing what I want to do, with the woman I love- who could ask for anything more?"

Ditto. for me!

All my love- always and forever, with all my heart,

Your wife,

Your Elisse

Journalists make the water run!

I know now, 100%, that journalists make the water run!
Dan may make the sun shine and stars glow, but journalists make the water run!
Thanks to Charles Owens of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, and Jessica Lilly of CBS WVNS-TV News59, we have running water- and the best water pressure we've had in years!
My hope is that "we are not alone", as they say...

Lemmee tell you: 28 days with no or negligable water pressure & $500+ in lost bookings was enough to make a girl want to slam her pretty little head into a wall.
And nothing- & I do mean Nothing- fixed it.
Not Dan "McGuyver" Clark with his bow & arrow, blow torch, pipe fittings, insulation, & bag of other magic tricks, crawling under the building to repeatedly check for non-existant leaks & running back and forth from The Water Source to The Inn trying to figure out how to fix the unfixable; nor my desperate, pleading phone calls to the McDowell County PSD, McD Co. Commissioners, Rural Water Association, et al: NOTHING.
Nada.
Finally, in sheer, unadultered desparation, I emailed The Journalists- and two Truly came to the rescue, actually braving the elements to make the Trek down to McDowell County to film & photograph The Trickle... and by 10p.m. That Very Night we not only had running water, we had RUNNING WATER! I mean like serious, freakin' water pressure!
This was cause for a truly joyous Woo-Hoo, Yee-Ha, Bubble Bath Fiesta at the Elkhorn Inn!
I must say, we truly do Love our antique clawfoot bathtubs! All 6 of them!
My only hope is that they were able to make the water run throughout McDowell County...
Bless their hearts- truly.
Elisse & Dan