I will always remember the excitement of 1976. My (late) husband, Sam, and I returned to North Carolina after living in Florida for 17 years. We just knew this would be our home for as long as we lived, but we didn't know we'd have such a harsh first winter! Our new friends had assured us, "The weather here is not nearly as bad as it used to be." Of course, they had no way of knowing that the winter of 1976-77 would be so cold, especially for folks unaccustomed to below-zero weather! We didn’t look back.

How could we have imagined, either, that on October 11, the first day of business in our little restaurant, the crunch of snow could be heard as our very first customers pulled into the parking lot?

We adjusted well after all, though buying warmer clothing took a while. Our first day's business brought in $19! This also gave us great admiration for the little people in food service. We didn't look back.

Later came the morning that our food supplier brought our delivery smack dab in the middle of our lunch rush. A “rush,” mainly because it was a snow day at Mabel School and almost all of the teachers came to eat with us, bless their hearts. They really helped keep our doors opened those first two years.

We just could not stop to put away the stock that day. Sam cooked while I waited tables, answered the phone, served as cashier – sometimes like a wild woman! I got nervous easily while sweet Sam just worked along flipping burgers as he sang!

"What are you going to do with the boxes of frozen meat?" I asked
him.

His reply? "I'm going to bury them in the snow outside the back door."

And that's what he did as fast as he could, between preparing orders. Sam knew the outside temperature was colder than even the freezers that morning, or at least cold enough to keep the meats frozen until after lunch.

It was an extremely stressful morning, which we thought had reached its peak until, low and behold, the health inspector strolled in during the lunch rush!  

(You know what’s coming, don’t you?)

The inspector, a very nice young man, walked around doing his job. Sam and I both liked him a lot. When he was almost finished checking everything, he walked over to the back door and looked out the window.

"Oh, dear," I said to myself, as I looked at Sam and then toward the door. I don't remember if the inspector opened the door and walked out or just questioned a small corner of a cardboard box he saw.

"Is there any food in the box, Sam?” he asked.

"Yep, there's frozen meat. We couldn't stop and put anything up while we're taking care of our customers. I know it's got to be okay for a little while."

"But, animals could get into it."

I don't know if animals would have liked hard frozen hamburger patties or would have even been out on such a bitter day. But the health inspector was out and doing his job. He wrote us up!

On another memorable winter afternoon, I was washing dishes in the restaurant when I looked up and noticed the ceiling had dropped down, directly over the sink. The pipes, frozen and burst, had been repaired, but apparently the insulation had been so heavy from the leakage that it pushed some of the ceiling down. We propped a broom under the ceiling. My weary husband went up into the attic to find the problem, only to fall through the ceiling into the dining area. Insulation covered almost every inch of that area! Thankfully, a rafter stopped his fall, preventing serious injury. We called our friends for help and they repaired the ceiling. We cleaned up the mess and were back up and running the next morning.  

Thirty-three years later, I still love winter, snow and living in the High Country and am so happy we never looked back.