Ravenwood Castle - A GWJ Friendly Travel Destination

So that was fun. Castle just got hit by a massive storm. May have been a tornado in there, but we don't have confirmation on that. Lots, I mean lots, of trees down. About half a dozen over the driveway itself. Had to hike up and down it to help guests get here, climbing over downed trees and dodging downed power and phone lines along the way.

Lots of cleanup to do tomorrow.

Teneman wrote:

So that was fun. Castle just got hit by a massive storm. May have been a tornado in there, but we don't have confirmation on that. Lots, I mean lots, of trees down. About half a dozen over the driveway itself. Had to hike up and down it to help guests get here, climbing over downed trees and dodging downed power and phone lines along the way.

Lots of cleanup to do tomorrow.

Stay safe. Apparently hundreds of thousand of people are without power in Cincinnati.

That's rough! Yeah, be safe, and good luck with the cleanup.

Sorry to hear it. Don't take it as an omen.

Stay safe.

Good news, everyone!

Glad to hear that it turned out okay. I guess it's living up to its category of "castle" seeing as it can weather a storm. Just the peasant's buildings were damaged.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Good news, everyone!

Glad to hear that it turned out okay. I guess it's living up to its category of "castle" seeing as it can weather a storm. Just the peasant's buildings were damaged. ;)

Though in truth the battering rams haven't hit the gate yet.

Thanks guys.

Nevin73 wrote:

Don't take it as an omen.

If it is an omen, it's got to be a good one. We lost one windshield, our poor gazebo has been repurposed into kindling, we're on limited generator power, and the yard is a terrible mess. But nobody got hurt. The Gypsy wagons and two of the cottages missed getting squished by a matter of feet. And with one possible exception we're still investigating, there doesn't seem to be any structural damage.

Overall, we got extremely lucky considering what could have happened given the size of the trees that were being torn down.

We seem to have survived the battering rams for now. Makes me glad I upgraded the boiling oil kettles.

We've got an absolutely amazing landscaper, and an equally great construction crew, and between the two of them they cleaned out nearly all the visible damage in one day. Considering we lost an estimated 75 trees - and a good chunk of those right on the driveway or parking lot - that's a heck of a feat. We're still without power in most buildings, and without air conditioning everywhere, but the guests that were there all weekend - including our second GWJer visitor! - seemed to enjoy themselves nonetheless.

Oh, and as a totally cool side effect of a massive tree crushing my poor little gazebo, we will now have a fire-pit up and running by the time of PenCon.

Did the trees all fall from the roots or did they break appart?

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

Did the trees all fall from the roots or did they break appart?

All of the above Some uprooted. Some broke in half. Some literally splintered. They were quite sizable trees too. Those winds were something.

Any excuse to have a bonfire is a good one!

Mixolyde wrote:

Any excuse to have a bonfire is a good one!

I guess that's true. That should take care of the next witch-burning.

A friend just e-mailed me some pictures from the trip. Here I am picking the first move in the big chess game.
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/IMAG0141.jpg)
100 quatloos to the person who can spot what's wrong with the picture.

Black has Rook/Bishop/Knight, rather than Rook/Knight/Bishop

And Tanglebones gets 100 quatloos. Thought it would take longer than that. We didn't notice until a good way in to the game.

Rob_Anybody wrote:

And Tanglebones gets 100 quatloos. Thought it would take longer than that. We didn't notice until a good way in to the game.

Wouldn't have caught it without the heads up

Teneman wrote:

We're still without power in most buildings, and without air conditioning everywhere, but the guests that were there all weekend - including our second GWJer visitor! - seemed to enjoy themselves nonetheless.

It was a good weekend! Our little man conquered the mailbox.
IMAGE(http://popspond.smugmug.com/Amanda-Steve/Raw/SS/i-4Fz4HcX/0/XL/12-07-01-4656-Ravenwood-XL.jpg)

Teneman wrote:

Oh, and as a totally cool side effect of a massive tree crushing my poor little gazebo, we will now have a fire-pit up and running by the time of PenCon.

Poor gazebo after the tree was removed.
IMAGE(http://popspond.smugmug.com/Amanda-Steve/Raw/Raw-2012/i-z9WmjLv/0/XL/IMG4630-XL.jpg)

Edit, fixed broken photo link.

The black queen and king aren't on the proper squares, either. Queens and kings should face each other across the board.

Mixolyde wrote:

The black queen and king aren't on the proper squares, either. Queens and kings should face each other across the board.

Yep, but more exactly the queen should be on it's color. ie. black queen should be on the black square.

I remember arguing about that in middle school or so. Queen on her color! King on his color! You don't know how to play chess, stupid!

That's a lot of trees!

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:

That's a lot of trees!

Indeed it is. And now I'm being told that insurance won't cover their removal. Let the games begin.

Oh, but there was some good news I forgot to report earlier: We’ve officially hired a steward for Ravenwood Castle! We’ve got a great couple who will be joining us shortly, and will take over the day to day management of the property and guest relations. We’re really excited about this, as these folks really seem to have the same vision for Ravenwood as we do.

Once they’re onboard and up and running, Mrs. Teneman and myself will be freed up to focus more of our time on marketing and event planning. Speaking of which, the guy we’re bringing on seems to be a bit of a board gamer himself. That’s particularly exciting as it means we’ll definitely have some interesting things on tap for Hoop & Stick, RavenCon, and future GWJ friendly events!

orly? No one tells me anything.

And for the record guys, I told Mono he didn't have to mail the little one to us at the Castle. We're excited to have him, but we would have been willing to wait for him to move down with the rest of the family...

Wow, congrats, Mono!

Wow, that is awesome!

MonoCheli wrote:

It's me! My wife, son and I will be moving to Ravenwood!

That's fantastic for you all! Your son is going to be the most awesomely geeky kid in the world; growing up in/around a castle.

Teneman wrote:

And for the record guys, I told Mono he didn't have to mail the little one to us at the Castle. We're excited to have him, but we would have been willing to wait for him to move down with the rest of the family...

I figured he had to send the kid as collateral.

Grats, Mono!