Tue, Feb 15, 1966
An accident at the county courthouse has blown off the roof of the building. Uncle Joe uses some sly tactics to try and get the jury of the current case sequestered at the Shady Rest rather than the much closer Pixley Hotel. He manages to do so. Joe doesn't mind the extra work and inconvenience to Kate and the girls. Those inconveniences include figuring out sleeping assignments for the shortage of rooms, lack of food due to an extra hungry jury, the jurors' personal lives invading the hotel, and certain parts of the hotel being off limits during the jury's deliberation. But when that inconvenience extends to Joe, he may wonder if getting the business and money is worth the crimp on their collective lives.
Tue, Feb 22, 1966
Kate receives a letter from a Mr. Donald Dobble stating that he and his friend and business colleague would like a reservation for two rooms. Mr. Dobble's friend, Mr. David Benton, arrives, and says that Mr. Dobble is with him, but Kate sees no one but Mr. Benton. Despite Mr. Benton seeming crazy to Kate since he sees and talks to an "invisible" man, Kate checks them in to the two reserved rooms. Her stance is that Mr. Benton is probably overworked and needs some much needed rest and relaxation. But as time goes on, Kate is wondering if she is the one going crazy for not being able to see Mr. Dobble. She feels this way as although Uncle Joe and the girls haven't seen him either, they have never been in a situation with Mr. Benton talking directly to Mr. Dobble in the room and they don't seem overly concerned that they have yet to see Mr. Dobble. So Kate tries at whatever opportunity to sneak a peak at or speak directly to Mr. Dobble, instead of just seeing the indirect implications that a Mr. Dobble is indeed there. Is Kate fighting a losing battle in trying to see the elusive and perhaps non-existent Mr. Dobble?
Tue, Mar 1, 1966
Kate and the girls are excited at the prospect of a convention taking place at the hotel, with its associated revenue windfall. For the business, they are in competition with the Pixley Hotel, which may have an elevator and telephones, but doesn't have Kate's home cooking. To be on the safe side, Kate decides to do a face lift of the hotel's rooms before the convention organizer's inspection, with Uncle Joe to do much of the work. Kate also receives notice of a property tax increase of $6, the amount about which Kate is relieved but Uncle Joe is livid, although he states he is angry about the increase on principle. Unknown to Kate, Uncle Joe writes a scathing letter to the tax review board demanding the taxes be lowered. Problems ensue not only for Uncle Joe, but Kate when Uncle Joe confuses the visit by the convention organizer, Mr. Forbes, with the visit by J.C. Albright, the chair of the tax review board, to who Uncle Joe wants to make the hotel look as shabby and run-down as possible to justify the tax decrease.
Tue, Mar 8, 1966
The Shady Rest is busting at the seams with guests, while the Pixley Hotel is virtually empty except for those that couldn't make their way into the Shady Rest for lack of rooms. As such, the Pixley Hotel's owner, Murdock Sneep, feigning that his establishment is also full, proposes to Kate that they merge their businesses. Kate kindly declines as she knows how empty the Pixley Hotel is. As such, Sneep vows to ruin Kate. He starts with an aggressive local advertising campaign, which doesn't bother Kate. But when Sneep starts to advertise on Shady Rest property, Kate and Uncle Joe believe his act is the start of war. Both Sneep and Kate/Uncle Joe have the same sorts of ideas as they try to one up the other. The first question becomes whether Kate or Sneep will realize first that their war may be reaping business but is taking a bigger bite in their expenses. And the second question is whether or not anyone else can capitalize on their feud.
Tue, Mar 15, 1966
With the hotel empty and bills piling up, Kate needs an influx of revenue, which means someone, namely Uncle Joe, has to find a paying job. Although Uncle Joe pounds the pavement, he does whatever he can to dissuade anyone from hiring him. On Uncle Joe's rounds with Dog, Dog, in an empty lot for sale in Pixley, digs up a tin can full of money. Initially, Uncle Joe plans on not telling Kate about the money, but rather spend it on himself so that he can live in luxury in the big city, but Dog guilts him into doing the right thing. So Uncle Joe secretly pays off all Kate's bills. A surprised Kate has no idea who her benefactor is, and thus has no idea who to thank. When Uncle Joe learns that the money was probably stolen from the Crabwell Corners Bank, he tries to return what's left of it to the bank without appearing to be involved in the robbery.
Tue, Mar 22, 1966
Uncle Joe is excited by a letter from Jeff and Nancy Anderson, who honeymooned at the hotel and are planning on returning soon for their tenth wedding anniversary. It gives Uncle Joe the idea to market the hotel as a second honeymoon haven for past honeymooning guests. The girls, who think it's a good idea, build upon it by suggesting they hold a gala reunion. They'll send out invitations with stamped return envelopes, so that all the invitees have to do is fill in the dates they will be staying on their RSVP. The plan doesn't work as every single couple to who they send invitations turn them down. The unfortunate recipients of the plan end up being the Andersons, who wanted a quiet second honeymoon, but receive Uncle Joe's constant attention as he wants to document every single second of their visit for his "Shady Rest Second Honeymoon" brochure. Uncle Joe's meddling has an unexpected second result which could put the kibosh on the whole second honeymoon haven idea.
Tue, Mar 29, 1966
Life at the hotel is not going the way Kate would hope. The arrival of the store catalog seems to be the big event for the girls, but they can't buy anything since the bank turned down Kate's loan request. Kate realizes that she has never been able to make a go of the hotel, but she can't imagine the girls or Uncle Joe ever wanting to move away. Mr. Carter Deming, a writer and the only current guest at the hotel, overhears Kate's musings, and as he gets ten times more work done at the hotel than he does in his own home in New York, he offers to buy the hotel from Kate. When the girls and Uncle Joe imply that they'd love to live in New York City (without Kate mentioning the reason why she's asking) and when Mr. Deming offers Kate much more than the hotel is really worth, Kate reluctantly accepts Mr. Deming's offer for what she feels is the good and the want of the rest of the family, especially in the ability to send the girls to college with that money. But when Kate tells them the news, the reality of their love for the Shady Rest and Hooterville and their want to stay sink in. As Kate verbally promised Mr. Deming that she wouldn't back out of the deal, Uncle Joe feels the only way to be able to stay is to have Mr. Deming want to back out.
Tue, Apr 5, 1966
Because the cheap refrigerator that Uncle Joe bought for $9 isn't working, Kate sends him into Pixley to get some ice for the icebox. However, Floyd and Charley are having a feud over who is boss of the Cannonball and a resulting feud over a missing apple, and as such they are not speaking to each other which also means they aren't operating the Cannonball. If Kate doesn't get some ice, all her food will spoil. So she does whatever she can to patch things up between the two, who have been best friends all their lives. Despite bringing in the analytical mind of Mr. Douglas to assist in convincing the two to make up, Kate does not have an easy task due to both Charley and Floyd's stubbornness and Uncle Joe's meddling.
Tue, Apr 12, 1966
Kate is cleaning out the storage closet, and wants all the family members to go through their belongings of the items in the closet. Although no one is around when Kate starts the job, she manages to find Uncle Joe (who wants to start an antiques business with his junk), Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo, but Betty Jo, who should have have been on the afternoon Cannonball run from school, isn't around. Kate receives news from Floyd and Charlie that last they saw Betty Jo that morning, she, all made up and with suitcase in hand, looked like she was about to run away to elope. Worried that Betty Jo has done something foolish, Kate, with help from the other girls, look for clues in Betty Jo's room and find that if Betty Jo is indeed planning to elope, the groom's name is Peter Latimer, a new boy in town. Kate does what any concerned mother would, and that is to rush off to find and stop Betty Jo from getting married.
Tue, Apr 19, 1966
Kate's widowed friend Vera Wilson is looking more elegant than usual, on account that she has been dating Ronnie Beckman, a bookkeeper who moved to the valley five years ago. Their relationship is going very slowly as Ronnie has never been married and seems to be a confirmed bachelor as he has lived on his own for virtually all his life. So when Kate runs into Ronnie, she tries to encourage him to take his relationship with Vera a little more seriously and a little more quickly. To help him along, she allows Ronnie to stay at the hotel to see how happy real family life really is. Two problems arise. First, there is currently less than harmony at the hotel among the feuding sisters. And second, Ronnie's stay at the hotel is misconstrued by others, who think Ronnie and Kate are sweet on each other. Those others include Uncle Joe, who believes Ronnie is a fortune hunter after the family's money.
Tue, Apr 26, 1966
Night after night, everyone at the hotel, even Dog, has an engagement out on the town, that is except for Kate, who seems content to be alone and knit in peace. However, Uncle Joe, and by association the girls, become concerned for Kate, thinking she needs to get out herself. So the girls take it upon themselves to try and find her an eligible bachelor. Before they can do that, they feel they have to demonstrate that they're grown up now, since they believe Kate's reluctance to date is because of her need to take care of them. In their overall scheme, the girls first try the direct approach, which doesn't work. Then they try the tricky approach, which has unintended consequences and still doesn't work. So they try the sneaky approach, bringing in the person they believe can help them the most: worldly Mrs. Douglas. Since all the eligible bachelors are scattered all over the valley, Mrs. Douglas suggests holding a lonely hearts club gathering at the hotel. Complications ensue when three desperate men show up at the hotel looking for equally desperate women and who won't leave until they find the woman of their dreams, while Kate initially has no idea what's going on.
Tue, May 3, 1966
Uncle Joe is excited by a new capital works project for the valley, namely the damming of Bleeker Creek which will create a new lake in the area. Uncle Joe wants to exploit the benefits of the lake, such as market the hotel as the place to stay for tourists using the lake for recreational purposes, and corner the market in the provision of whatever specialized products and services for those tourists. However, Kate points out to Uncle Joe that there is one flaw in his plans: the location of the new lake does not mean that the hotel will be lake front property, but rather be under water in the middle of the lake. The railroad spur line would also be under water. When she sees how this project will devastate her and the Cannonball, she knows who is behind it: Homer Bedloe. Kate does whatever she can to stop the project, her first order of business being to collect two hundred signatures required on a restraining order petition. When it looks like Kate will just run short of the required two hundred, Floyd and Charley unwittingly look like they will get the last of the signatures required, but it is ultimately Dog who looks like he will do what is required to stop Bedloe's scheme.
Tue, May 10, 1966
What Betty Jo wants more than anything is to be able to buy her friend Willie's motorized bicycle. Kate allows her to do so only if she is able to come up with the money, which may not be that easy for Betty Jo. After placing a job wanted ad in the World Guardian (which she could only pay for by dusting Sam's store in exchange), Betty Jo does get a babysitting offer only on the condition that Kate is around to supervise, to which Kate reluctantly agrees. With Kate doing much of the work, Betty Jo makes it through the babysitting job. The result is that many other babysitting offers and many other babies come out of the woodwork. Unfortunately for Betty Jo and the the rest of the family, the jobs are all for the same night and under the same condition of Kate supervising. Despite all the help provided by Kate and ultimately Bobbie Jo and Uncle Jo on these jobs, Betty Jo has to come to a decision if there are more important things in her life than the motorbike.