Loving a Mild Midwest Winter!

February 1st, 2011

From the 18 inches of snow of a year ago, to a winter worthy of "Mild" status, we are grateful for exceptional winter weather. That being said, it will be interesting to see what happens to our flowers which have been fooled into an early Spring, but I'm sure they will do just fine. I must say that we have never seen the Surprise Lilies pop up in FEBRUARY! The leaves are 6 inches tall. The good thing is that those leaves will die back and then the "Naked Lady" flowers pop up in August. Now if we can make it through the next 4 weeks with no extended hard freezing, those Spring emerging flowers will survive nicely. Having been blessed with warmer temps than usual, the Koi pond has not frozen over once this season. The Koi and Goldfish are a bit confused, and come to the surface constantly to see if it is time to EAT. But they too will be just fine with all this warm winter weather, and will be fed when the pond temp gets back to a stable 55 degrees.


As usual, this has been a busy winter inside. We've been cleaning closets and working on room projects to make some typical improvements. Each winter we keep ourselves busy with such fun... It feels good to purge the closets and basement of things that are not needed here, but could be useful to others. We've donated a lot to Good Will, and have passed along some collectibles to others. We are listing things on eBay too. What a great venue to sell and buy, :0)!


Make your plans for summer early. Come see why Reagan's Queen Anne is Top Rated! We're anticipating a very busy summer season in 2012. Here's the link for convenience. Check Availability and BOOK YOUR STAY!

Beautiful Autumn..."Warm" Beginning to Winter

Reagan's Queen Anne Bed and Breakfast, Hannibal, Missouri

This 2011 photo of our two sugar maples in late in October, is a magnificent display of nature's artwork. When all other trees on our street were nearly or completely bare, we still had this beautiful array of color at the front door of our home. These maples are stunning and really look so nice against the paint scheme sported by this Victorian queen. If you are one who enjoys the colors of autumn, be sure to bookmark our website to go back to occasionally, or to see updates next summer and early autumn. We always let folks know what stages to expect of the metamorphosis, which occurs in our regional forests and the local trees noted for "showing off" the wonderful artist's palate of the colors of fall.

We'd like to thank all those who visited this year! Thanks to our wonderful guests, 2011 was another good year. Though we would love to have outstanding occupancy every year, matching 2010 and the two top years preceding that, we knew that eclipsing that would be a challenge in this unstable economy. As we've done since we opened our business, we try to help out by offering lower rates on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We certainly filled rooms a lot during those days this year. So, for all those who will choose to cross the threshold of this beautiful vintage lady called Reagan's Queen Anne, we look forward to meeting you. To all of our wonderful repeat guests, we always look forward to your next booking. We love to hear from our guests, "We feel like we've been friends forever, and are as comfortable as can be in your company." We're looking forward to a great 2012 and providing a cozy, comfy respite for you all in the not-too-distant future! To all of our repeat guests who are participating in our Frequent Stay Program, remember that credit is recorded when you send others too. Just tell your friends, family, co-workers, etc. to let us know that you referred them to us. 

Christmas has passed for yet another year, and this year it was not "White". Time we spent with family helped us forget that Christmas and snow go together like peanut butter and jelly. We enjoyed the Avenue of Lights in Quincy, IL, went to the movie and had fun spending time with family. We're thankful that we have seen only a couple dustings of snow thus far this winter. Our local weather is unseasonably warm for December/January and we are loving it! Now that being said, we do hope for some colder weather to hang around for a bit this month so that our Mississippi River Flyway Eagles will once again dot the skies and trees near the riverbanks with their magnificence. There is a local pair which lives here year round, but local numbers reach into the hundreds of eagles when the river freezes during winter. Check our website for more about our Bald and Golden Eagle visitors by clicking the following: Eagle Visitors near Hannibal

American Bald Eagle

We are working on a few projects, as we do each winter. Our third floor suite will soon have a shower to compliment the clawfoot tub. We'll be doing some interior painting and hauling some things to auction, from closets upon closets full of antiques and collectibles. Rather than keep them packed away, these things need to be enjoyed by others.           

Happy New Year!! Let's hope for an economic recovery that will benefit us all. Blessings, Hope for the Future, and Well Wishes to you and yours. Norm and Judy

A May to Remember!

May was a busy month! On the 3rd, Norm and I left by train and headed to Chicago. We then flew from O'Hare to Honolulu on May 4th, to attend oldest son Billy's wedding!! It was great to finally meet Kacey's family and celebrate such a beautiful wedding in breathtaking tropical surroundings. That is NOT a big poster behind them! The flora and fauna surrounding this historic Hawaiian Fish Pond, which connects to Kaneohe Bay and the Pacific, was paradise at its finest.

Billy & Kacey Shreve - Moli'i Pond, Kaaawa, Hawaii

The wedding party!

Don't you feel sorry for these two? They are forced to live in the beauty of the tropical paradise called HAWAII!! I keep thinking how I could grow my tropical hibiscus "outside" year round. Currently, the dozen potted hibiscus bushes and tree we have, are yet to be set out for the summer.


Ahhh, the sweet aromas stay with you for a long time. The plumeria and tuberose were not only beautiful, but sweetly aromatic and heavenly. I can almost smell them now. The bridesmaids wore yellow plumeria leis, and the Moms' leis were tuberose and roses. The men wore tea leaf and kukui nut, traditionally.


So we arrived home on Friday the 13th. Though I'm not a superstitious person, somehow Friday the 13th was not the luckiest for us. Norm was not feeling well a couple days before we left Hawaii and suffered on the flight back. He's well now, but he passed it on to me!! Thanks, buddy! :0) I've had bronchitis twice now this spring! I'm on the downhill side of it now, thankfully, and am feeling about 98% now! We came home to a hail damaged vehicle too...bummed about that.


Something else we did was to bring the rain along with us. No, not really, but it seems that way. Hawaii was unseasonably wet for this time of year, and it seemed to follow us home. We've been waiting and waiting to be able to paint the porch and can't manage more than a day at a time without rain here. I won't even mention the severity of weeds with all this rain. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...so we're doing our best to work outside when weather permits. Maybe a few more appeals to Mother Nature would help?? So if you're so inclined... Thanks! I'm hoping to get the waterfall working again this week, and am hoping I won't need to replace the pump. Those babies are expensive and it seems that about every 4-5 yrs, they need replacing. Ugh...


Our hummingbirds are back in full force!! I've seen 8 of them that I counted all at once. I'm sure the 2 dozen or so will be here after the babies hatch. We have 4 males and 4 females at the least, so that bodes well for having at least 8 more this summer. They are eating a LOT of our home-made nectar. I'm thinking that we'll go through another 40+ pounds of sugar this year.


Business is good, in spite of being closed for about 18 days from the beginning of May, while we were gone and then recovering from colds. So don't delay in making reservations for the summer. It's filling fast! Not much left for Tom Sawyer Days around July 4th, and weekends in general are pretty full already. Our Fall Folklife Festival still has openings, so be sure to reserve your room in a timely manner.


HANNIBAL IS NOT FLOODED! We have a levee system which keeps our downtown dry, and business as usual. Though the flood gates may be in, our Riverboat still runs from a location just a few hundred yards up river. Retail shops etc on Main Street remain open when the gates are in, so don't let that deter you from making your trip to Hannibal this summer. Hannibal is OPEN FOR BUSINESS as usual.


Hope to see our repeats and new guests soon!
Judy and Norm