Black Friday?

The day after. Another fantastic Thanksgiving dinner here at The Craftsman B&B. This year was no different, in that the food was fantastic. We brine'd the turkey for days, it was awesome. Laura baked many pies and tarts.



So yesterday, I posted turkey S&P's, today we can't forget the Native Americans that made Thanksgiving possible, so here they are.

We had a crew of Black Friday Shoppers leave early this morning. If you, like me, avoided it at all costs, great. It cost me cleaning up the roasting pan and getting the house back to normal. So now that the Christmas shopping season is upon us, we'd like to remind you of our gift certificates. You can purchase them from us for The Craftsman B&B, click here, and we also sell BedandBreakfast.com gift certificates you can use all over the country, great for giving to people who don't live near the Oregon Coast. Call me and I'll set you up, you family and friends will love them. They are also good for corporate gift giving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here at The Craftsman B&B we are doing the normal, traditional Thanksgiving. We have family and guests as well as turkey Salt & Pepper Shakers.

My parents are here from Highlands Ranch, Colorado. My Brother and his wife from Santa Barbara, California and guests from Salem and Eugene, Oregon. The friends from Pacific City include, our neighbors and the local set of twins.

We will entertain ourselves with wii boxing and bowling, Laura is a great boxer and has beaten our friend Sean, a Kung Fu Black Belt. The Detroit Lions game may end up good. Last weeks game was pretty darn good with the quarterback dislocating his shoulder on the final drive, coming back for one play to pass for a touchdown, amazing.

After dinner we will watch our favorite team, the Denver Broncos, try to win.

We hope you have a great day with family and friends, we plan to. Christopher, if your reading this, call your mother!

Salt and Pepper Collection

As many of you already know, I collect Salt & Pepper shakers. I had a few that I liked and when the collection grew out of reasonable cupboard space, I started placing them in a curio case. Friends would see them when they came over and after a while, they were giving me theirs. The other reason I started collecting them was that I'm the youngest of five kids. As anyone who knows me knows I have "particular taste," meaning: I like what I like. When Christmas presents were opened and I got things I didn't really need or not likely to use, I got the idea: In your travels and everyday life, keep an eye out for the ugliest Salt and Peppers you can find. As you will see in future blogs, there are some ugly ones, cute ones too. You decide.

OK, so the collection has grown. It outgrew the curio and we were planning the design of The Craftsman B&B. So I decided to add a shelf to the wainscoting in the Dining Room. It worked out perfectly as I unpacked the boxes of S&P's, they all fit on the shelves with no room to spare. So as the collection grew, new ones ended up on the window sill, then the sorting began. Christmas ones come out at Christmas. Bunnies and Easter S&P's are also seasonal. Poultry is next to be stored. The collection grows, but the shelf is limited.

Here is where it all started. I was planing on making dining room chairs about 15 years ago. I was thinking about Shaker chairs. So I did some research and found this place that is all Shaker. I got the catalog, pre-Internet, and saw these S&P's. They are Shaker, shakers.

OK, they are not ugly, but remember that wasn't the plan from the start. They were clever and I appreciate anyone that can be clever. So post your comments on the shakers you like. If you have some ugly ones hiding in a cupboard, send them to me where they are enjoyed by my guests and of course, me.

B&B's, a guy thing?

Those of you who have stayed with us at The Craftsman B&B in Pacific City already know what I am about to write. Those of you that haven't my be in for a surprise, we think it a good surprise.

Our original plan to get out of the rat race was to buy an existing B&B business. We are so glad we didn't. There are many reasons, the main one was we could operate the kind of B&B we wanted to run. The down side to this is starting a business from scratch, read: no customers, versus buying an existing business that already has had many guests and return guests, read: steady business from the start.

Most B&B's in the United States are in Victorian style homes. Ornate machine made trim, large multi-profile crown moldings, gaudy floral wall papers, I think you got the picture. Our idea was to be a lace and doilie free zone. The restoration of our 1921 Craftsman style home spoke to us about the way things were, plain and simple. We wanted to have a B&B that guys wouldn't be embarrassed to tell their buddies about the weekend with the "better half."

Well five years later and the New York Times has caught onto our idea. So have a few B&B's around the country. The article is here. Now we don't have a pub on site like Forty Putney Road, but we do have an award winning brew pub a short walk up the beach. We do have a fish cleaning sink and can also arrange for guided fishing in the ocean or river. Do we offer scrap booking weekends? Yes, but we also offer chair building weekends. A great guy activity, power tools! I'll teach you how to use them safely and how hand tools are also important and a real time and money saver too. This is great for couples too. You end the weekend with two chairs for your deck or yard. I think they are nice enough to be in the house too.

So people out there not wanting to experience a stuffy, overly decorated, lacy, frilly B&B or a no frills no customer service motel now have a place to spend their vacation, The Craftsman B&B.

Music Video shot here in Pacific City

MIKESCHAIR officially released their first-ever music video, Let The Waters Rise. From Mike Curb records, who signed a young Lyle Lovett, MIKESCHAIR is climbing the Christian rock charts.

Their unique video was shot on the Pacific Ocean coast among the beautiful scenery of Cape Kiwanda, right here in Pacific City, Oregon. Shot on the North side of the Cape, rarely seen by folks that think the only beach in town is the one in front of the brew pub, MIKESCHAIR - Mike Grayson, Sam Tinnesz, Jesse Hale and Jon Haire - immensely enjoyed their first video experience. Although, during the one-day shoot the filming became more than expected due to the intensity of the blaring sun, long treks up and down the vertical sand dunes, as well as the sandstone cliffs and gusty winds of sand. The guys laugh about it now, even more so as they continue to find sand creviced in their clothes and bags, a few weeks after the video shoot.

There is no question that filming on the coast, with the dunes, a gorge, and the amazing sunset as the backdrop made the whole shoot worthwhile. The beach town of Pacific City has been known for over a hundred years as a quaint fishing village and vacation destination, a unique geographical and geological area located between Tillamook and Lincoln City, found on the south end of beautiful Three Capes Scenic Loop.




"The Oregon coast has some of the most breathtaking scenery and definitely displays some of God's most beautiful creations," commented MIKESCHAIR guitarist Sam Tinnesz. "We had a great time making the video...especially climbing up and down mountains to get to different locations you see in the video."

Lead vocalist, Mike Grayson agreed stating, "The location where we shot the video was so overwhelmingly beautiful."

If you too like the setting, come stay at The Craftsman B&B and we'll tell you how to access this sceret beach.

The video was helmed by Eric Welch, founder and director for Broken Poet Productions. Welch has also directed videos for Brandon Heath, MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Toby Mac, and many more. Aristo Media is set to head up the video's distribution.

"Let The Waters Rise" is quickly climbing the CHR, Christian (Overall), AC Monitored and AC Indicator charts, proving to be a powerful record touching both programmers and their listeners. This is the group's second single off their self-titled debut project, released on Curb Records July 14th.

MIKESCHAIR is managed by Creative Trust, Inc. and booked by Jeff Roberts & Associates, both located in the Nashville, TN area.

Fishing from a Kayak

One of the most popular activities here in Pacific City, Oregon is fishing. Here at The Craftsman B&B, we have an outdoor, stainless steel sink for cleaning you catch of the day. Most people fish out of a dory boat during the summer. Fall brings the Salmon up the river, so you can fish from the bank or drift boat.



I ran across this video of a guy fishing in the ocean from a Kayak. He looks pretty well set up and has mounted a video camera to his rigging. Watch him paddle out and land a Halibut. If you've ever been in a Kayak, you know trying to pull something that big up without tipping over can be a challenge. Oh, and a warning, if you get sea sick, watch this video with caution.



Thanks to pacifickayaking.com for posting and showing the world fishing in Pacific City.