Icicle Clean Up

Susan's sister gave us this clock when we got married. It stopped working about three or four years ago. So I took to the clock repair guy and got it fixed for Valentines Day.

Since then, I have been fine tuning it to get it running accurately. I think I'm finally there. I'll know for sure in a couple of days but I think it's running pretty solid right now.

I'm tidying up some after effects of winter weather. We have some massive icicles hanging off the house.

This one is on the front porch.

This monster mutha is on the side of the house hanging off the Dining Room Bay Window. I was really worried about knocking it off and the whole thing coming down on top of me.

Here is one directly above the bay window that gives me big trouble. If I let it get away, it back flows into the roof and damages the dining room ceiling.

I managed to get them down without impaling myself thus averting several tragedies.

I'm also keeping the birds and the squirrels properly nourished.

Snow Blow Doctor

Since Thursday when my neighbor snow blowed my S.R.A., it has snowed a couple more inches. It has been lightly snowing all morning but no major accumulations so far. 

I broke out the snow blower and got to work on my driveway and sidewalks, I ignored the rest of the neighborhood that I usually do because of mechanical difficulties and the fact that the neighbors did their sidewalks themselves.

As in the recent past, the snow blower ran good for about ten minutes, allowing me to get the driveway cleaned off. Then it started running rough and I had to choke the hell out of it to limp it through the rest of the way. I managed to clean up my area and then set to the task of loading the snow blower into the car...by myself.

I use a long sturdy plank and slowly slide/drag it into the back of my SUV. My repair guy, Richard is just at the top of the hill off Monroe. I explained the problem and he said that doesn't make any sense. He helped me unload it and said he would have it by Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Any snowfall in the meantime is going to have to be taken on with shovel and muscle. I have a shovel. Fortunately, the forecast calls for little snow but colder temperatures.

Another Se7en and Fabulous Neighbors

I got up this morning to seven more inches of snow. I shoveled the front walk and steps and a path out to the garage. Then I had to leave for work. 

All day I dreaded coming home because I knew I had a lot of snow to move and a snow blower on the fritz.

To my shock, pleasure and joy, I got home to a snow free driveway and sidewalk. I called my neighbor Lou and thanked him for the blow job.

That was so nice to see. I really have to do something nice for him.

I also learned that he helped Susan get unstuck this morning. Her car is supposed to be all wheel drive but it didn't seem to help her this morning.

As I sit here typing, I see that the snow is starting to fall again. I haven't heard the forecast for how much we are expecting but I know I'm not exactly prepared for another major snow fall.

Thank God for my wonderful neighbors!

Another Day, Another Se7en Inches

It's my day off but there was no sleeping in for me. I had to get up and face the consequences of not snow blowing last night.

It was a good thing I didn't because it just would have been wasted effort. I went out this morning to bright blue skies and seven inches of snow.

I'm going to have to take the snow blower in for service. It ran but not that great. I had it on full choke for most of the time. It runs great for the first five or ten minutes and then begins to run like crap.

In the meantime, I have to take Oscar to the Vet for his annual check up. He is almost 19 and starting to act like it.

10:24AM: Oscar was down three pounds, from 11 to 8 and had a heart murmer, so we put him down. 

Just kidding! I left him at the Vet for the day though. They wanted to get a blood test and a urine sample and possibly an x-ray so I'm going back at 4:30.

I'm going to go back outside and finish up my snow blowing. Hopefully the machine will run good enough for a few minutes for me to finish up.

3:16PM: My first order of business after writing that last paragraph was to take a nap. After that refreshing event, I decided I had to get outside and get some stuff done.

I shoveled the deck and got most of the snow off. It still looks like a mess out there, but with less snow.

Then I fired up the snow blower and tried to finish my rounds. I got mostly finished but not quite. My big concern is that there is more snow coming...tonight. In fact, it has started, although not very intense.

My last job was to get an extension cord up to the roof where I have a snow melt cord in the valley of the roof.

You can see the cord hanging there, right next to that giant icicle. I had to break out the ladder and get up there to attach the extension cord. Hopefully, the melt cord will eliminate the icicle.

This summer, I'm going to have to make a project of getting that melt cord wired into the house. There is going to come a time when this tired old man won't be able to get up there.

Anyway, everything is ready for the next round of snow, which they say will be tonight. Oh Joy!

Multi-Task Guy

12:00 Noon: We came out of church this morning to discover we are not out of the snow zone yet.

It is currently coming down at a pretty good pace.  And to quote an old Native American saying: "Big Snow, Little Snow - Little Snow, Big Snow".

We have little snow (small snow flakes) coming down right now so I'm looking for big snow (A lot on the ground). I read in the paper that they are forecasting three more inches.

This is how it looks out there. I'm not sure this picture really shows the snow very well. Trust me when I tell you that it is indeed snowing.

My project for the day (while Susan is working a kids show at the arena, PJMasks Live) is to defrost the freezer downstairs. I'm about to go out and collect a couple of ice chests from the Carriage House. I shall then fill them with the bounty of the freezer. Then I shall unplug the freezer and let it melt.

I'll be taking advantage of the chilly temperatures to keep the frozen stuff frozen. Yup, I'm going to leave the ice chests out in the yard.

2:40PM: I'm planning on heading out to snow blow in about 20 minutes. I have been multi-tasking like crazy. I am defrosting the freezer.

I was able to get everything into two coolers.  I had no idea how much food we have. Let an emergency happen. We're going to be okay. 

I have a heater in front of the freezer right now so I'm hoping that will speed the defrostion. I've been chipping away at some of the larger ice flows but I also need to get a pan on the bottom to keep the water contained as the ice melts. 

I was going to dump a nearly full keg of home brew that has been sitting under pressure but outside the fridge for a couple of months. I tried it and it's not bad. I put it back under pressure and back in the fridge.

I also have been vacuuming the basement stairs. That's something that never gets done. 

On top of all this, I've got "The Roy Rogers Show" on FETV. Roy was a Saturday morning favorite of mine even though the original run of the show was eight to ten years earlier in 1954.

The show is ridiculous to the point of hilarity. Even more than Batman. The acting is horrible, the plot juvenile, and the premise is totally out of sync with history. Roy and Dale live in Mineral City sometime around 1950 but they act as if they lived in an old western town. They live on a ranch but they talk on the phone. They carry guns on their belts and they ride horses everywhere they go. Except for Roy's "Comic Sidekick" Pat Brady. He drives a jeep. Her name is Nellie Bell. She comes to him when he calls her. She also belches smoke and steam whenever Roy or Dale make a snide remark about her.

3:50 PM: I went out to blow the snow but it started coming down again. I did a little light n' tight touch up shoveling. That's where you shovel the areas most critical. Back door to garage, front steps and walk, that sort of thing. I guess I'll try to blow again after returning from the Hub. I want to get at this snowfall as soon as I can because it sounds like there is another coming tonight. 

I just looked out and the snow coming down is really really small. We might get buried!

Winter Wonder Difficulties

As one may recall from the previous post, we are deep into snow season. 

The snowfall took a break yesterday afternoon but took up where it left off overnight. 

Here is a good indication of total snowfall over the last 30 hours. I am guessing there is about 8 inches piled on that chair seat. I'll try to get out there and get a measurement but for now, I am spent! Snow blowing is taking its toll on me.

I got up at 9 and preceded to get to work on my S.R.A. (Snow Removal Area). Immediately I had a problem because I had to do some snow blower maintenance. I broke a shear pin yesterday and that required a trip to the General Store. I got there only to realize I did not bring my wallet.

So I slipped and slid my way back home to collect my money and returned to the General Store. I made note of their mocking attitude toward me. As I walked in, they had brand new snow blowers on display with a sign that touted, "No Shear Pin Needed".

Kiss my Ass!

I purchased two because you always want a backup to avoid situations such as I was facing now.

Unfortunately, I bought the wrong size. It wasn't like they were unusable but I will have to return and buy the right size at a later time that is not now.

The snow blower ran great today except for right at the end of my job when it started to sputter and surge. I turned the choke way up and that worked through the problem. Still, I need to have it looked at.

Right now the sun turning the neighborhood into a Winter Wonder Place of snow and wonder.

Take a look for yourself.

I will definitely be returning to the General Store to buy more Shear Pins. I broke the other one while out on my rounds. However, as previously stated, I am spent. Time to decompose and read the paper.

February Snow Day

When I got up at 5 this morning, it was not snowing. But by the time I stepped out of the shower, it was coming down. I had a light dusting of snow on the car when I left for work. It has kept snowing all day. It is now just after 1:00 and the snow continues. I only worked half a day today so I am home early to attend to snow matters.

I just measured 3 inches of very light fluffy snow. I'm trying to decide when to get out there and start snow blowing. 

I think I will run to the store and then evaluate the situation when I return.

Later: It is now approaching 4:00 and the snow blowing is complete. It appears the snow has stopped as well but not before I completed the blowing.

I'm still concerned about my snow blower performance. It died on me three times and without the assist of the electric start (which requires an extension cord) it is very difficult to start by hand. 

I broke a shear pin on one of the augers so I'm going to have to fix that issue. But the more major concern is the way the motor is running. It starts out okay but starts surging and dying after a while. When I get it restarted, it seems to run okay for a bit but them resumes the surges.

In any event, I have fulfilled my duty to the neighborhood for now and am waiting for the next storm to come.

Saturday Stuff

Susan had to work the Monster Truck Rally today so I had the day to myself. I had a whole bunch of little things to get done today and I must say that I was successful with most of the things.

The main thing was to get the snow blower running well or to the repair guy so he could get it running well. I needed it last Wednesday and it ran last crap.

I drained the gas and replaced it with some premium gas. Then I changed the spark plug and tried firing it up to see if that helped.

Lo and behold, it worked. It sputtered and coughed for the first couple of minutes until all the bad gas burned through. But I was finally able to get it running smoothly. I even got out on the sidewalk and got a little of the snow I missed the other day.

Anyway, I'm happy and confident that the blower is ready for snow the next time it decides to do that.

I also did some work on the Petite Verdot that is currently brewing. I took a sample in to Jim's Home Brew and we did an acid test to see where it's at. It was decided to add 20 grams of Potassium Carbonate and I racked it into a clean carboy and made sure it got lots of aeration.

Beyond that, it did this and that around the house and even got out to the Hub for a beer.

The best thing about the whole day was not being at the Monster Truck Rally.

Sickness Saturday.

Suffering through our respective illnesses, we have made it to the weekend. Susan had to work a hockey game last night and made it through so I'm trying to let her have as easy a weekend as she would like. It's ten and she's still in bed. That's good. She ended up being sicker than I ever was.

As for me, I'm dealing with minor issues of a cold. Really sniffly, and a cough that comes and goes. I'm not out, but I'm down-ish. 

In an effort to get some stuff done around here, I've been removing Christmas light. I got the deck cleaned off and I have the lights down on the front porch. Next I have to get them stowed away in a semi-manageable fashion. The more work I put in today, the easier it will be next Christmas Season.

I have a football game going in the background. The Eastern Washington Eagles are getting trounced by the Bison of North Dakota State University. It's just about to half time and the score is 17 to 3. Let's hope the Eagles are a second half team.

12:30 PM: The Eagles lost. The final score was 31-23. At least they made a run for at the end. They just ran out of time.

Susan and I are going out and running some errands. Nothing major but Susan is considering a visit to the minor emergency clinic to have her cold looked at. 

8:45PM: We spent two hours at the Minor Emergency Clinic. They finally got Susan in and gave her a prescription for Amoxicillin for her sinuses. 

That pretty much shot the rest of the day for us although we did make it to Costco for some needed supplies. 

After all that, we decided we deserved a night at the the Cathay Inn. We had a lovely meal, made it back home to watch Gonzaga win and the Seahawks lose.

Home for New Years

Our 3200 mile Christmas Trek is complete. We got home yesterday after an eight hour drive from Billings. We had great weather on Friday as well...although the first 60 miles outside of Mitchell, SoDak where a little sketchy. The skies were clearish but the wind was still blowing and it was already really REALLY cold.

Once we got to Chamberlain and crossed the Missouri river, the conditions changed. We could travel at 80 again and we made the nine hour drive to Billings.

We even got in early enough to go to Jake's Montana Steak House and watch the Cougars defeat Iowa State in the AlamoBowl.

While it is great to be home, we are sick. Today is day se7en of this cold I've complained about and Susan is stricken with a pretty severe case of flu. 

We are staying in and staying Quiet. It looks like a great New Years Eve for us.

Corn Palace

The alarm went off at 6:55 and we were on the road by 8:30.

The day started in Des Moines where it rained all night. It was wet out but it was warm. We loaded up the car, double checked the house for anything we left behind and hit the road. Susan drove first and got us to Souix Falls in three hours and seven minutes. I took over and the weather turned frosty. 

When we got to Sioux City and Interstate 90, it was near white out conditions and snow blowing across the freeway. The visibility was horrible and I think I made a top speed of 50 for a little while. I drove for almost 3 hours and we turned off at Mitchell. It's about one third of the way across the state. The forecast for tomorrow looks more promising than the current conditions so at 3PM, we got a room and went to dinner. 

I don't remember the name of the local joint we went to but it was a nice little Bar and Grill in downtown...right by the Corn Palace.

I enjoyed a local dish I never heard of before that consisted of Bits of steak dropped into a deep fat fryer. I got em rare and they were tastey. 

We then looked for a store and got some supplies. Brandy and cough drops for me and beer for Susan.

The nice thing about this detour is we finally got to see the World's Only Corn Palace.

The poor quality of the pictures is an indication of how cold it was out there. The pictures and columns and most of the building are all decorated with thousands of ears of corn.

Iowa - Day Six

Today is our last full day in Iowa. We are going to lunch with the cousins and then going to see a play tonight.

Last night's news was talking about snow advisories in South Dakota. I looked on some SoDak traffic cameras just now and they definitely have snow. It's not a lot at this point and I don't know what the forecast calls for.

We had already decided to make the trip back a three day affair. That will make it easier on us and the drive. The plan for tomorrow is to make it to Rapid City. That's 626 miles. On Friday, we plan to reach Bozeman. That is a distance of 458 miles. 

The Washington State Football Cougars are playing Iowa State in the AlamoBowl. It looks like the game is at 7:00. We should be able to make Bozeman in time for us to find a bar and watch the game. If we are doing really well, I'm going to try and make it to Butte. That's only another 90 miles, but we will be crossing the Continental Divide in the dark.

On top of everything, I have developed a cold, with a sore throat and stuffed up head. It's not keeping me down but I'm not feeling terribly perky.

11:06PM: We had a delightful lunch with the cousins. I had a nice French Dip sandwich which gave me trouble when we returned home and I laid down for a nap.

I napped until 6 and then we went downtown to a play called "Triple Espresso". It was a community theater offering and it was hilarious. I enjoyed myself in spite of how I feel...which is not great.

When next you hear from us, we'll be in snowy Rapid City, SoDak.

Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to the two or three people who visit this blog. I hope you are having as wonderful a time as we are!

Another Night of Blues

We are pretty much Bloozed Out. We've been to three shows in three days.

Last night was the All-Star Reunion show for Blues on Grand, a defunct Blues Bar that everyone in the Blues Community seems to revere here. The bar is still functioning and lots of Blues bands play there, but now it is called "The Gas Lamp".

They played for over three hours straight with a variety of performers getting up and playing. Nephew Neil is to the far right on his keyboards. The venue was a funky little bar called "Lefty's", named after a three legged dog.

Our schedule for today is pretty low key. I need to find some ZiCam as I feel just a tinge of a sore throat. I don't want it to get any worse than a tinge.

Christmas Shopping

Including today, there are three shopping days left before Christmas. That seems like a good time for me to start. And so I did. I would love to tell you about it, but I have to go downstairs and decorate Christmas Cookies. It's a treasured Christmas tradition.

Okay! That cherished tradition is in the books for another year.

I managed to get just about everything I wanted on my shopping sojourn, plus I came up with a couple of good added presents. It's a cold cloudy day in Des Moines and the shoppers are definitely out. I wasn't in any big hurry and especially because I'm unfamiliar with the city, I bided my time.

We went to Phil and Margaret's church tonight for their Saturday evening service. It was nice but frustrating to see a church that is doing well when we attend a church that is barely hanging on.

After the service, we went to a local bar to hear another band that Neil plays in, the Soul Searchers. They are a very tight bluesy band and really a joy to listen to.

It's now about 10 pm and time to wind down the day. I have one more thing I need to get tomorrow and I think I know where to get it. Let's see how I do.

Christmas in Iowa-Days One and Two

We are spending Christmas in Des Moines this year. We arrived last night after a two day driving adventure across Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dak and finally, Iowa.

We made it to Sheridan, Wyoming the first day. 690 miles! The weather was great for the drive. The only place it was a little bit sketchy was at Lookout Pass on the Idaho-Montana border. It was slushy for about 25 miles. 

Then we got directed off the freeway at Superior, Montana because of some wreck on the Freeway. We drove down this two lane country road for 15 miles until they got us back on the main road. 

At one point, the road went right along side the freeway and west bound semi trucks were backed up for miles. They had to sit there for however long it took to clear the accident. 

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Speed Limits in Eastern Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota are 80 MPH which means I set it at 85 with no concern for getting pulled over.

Unfortunately, we traveled on the shortest day of the year so we had to drive in the dark a lot. Here's a nice sunset from two thirds of the way across SoDak.

Here are some other pictures from the road,

Here is a shot of the Devils Tower in Wyoming. This is as close as we got.

We always have books to listen to on the road, which really helps pass the time. We started with a book called "Circe" by Madeline Miller. Unless you are really in to mythology and fantasy, do not get this book.

We listened for four hours, waiting for some sort of story to begin. We finally gave up and turned to "The Reckoning" by John Grisham. This was much better and captured our interest immediately.

I'm going to return "Circe" to Audible. I got it because it was recommended by the Audible Editors as one of the best fiction books of the year. I shall not put much stock in their recommendations in the future.

We are here now and Winter has officially arrivened although it doesn't look like it in Des Moines. It looks like Fall. But it feels like Winter.

We are off to shop and wash the car.

Snow Blow One

We had overnight what I consider to be our first official snow fall. 

It falls into that category because I had to break out the snow blower. I covered my regular territory of the driveway, the alley next to the driveway, the sidewalk on Wall, and the sidewalk on Waverly Place. I also did a little on Cleaveland. 

Since it was my day off, I got to do it at a leisurely pace. 

The snow blower ran great at first, but started acting up and surging as I finished up the alley. The snow there was really wet and I had to stop and clear the barrel several times. I'm going to go get some STP or other such gasoline additive to help blow out the junk and super fortify my existing old gas.

Out With One Season and On to the Next

It's December now so we are tearing down Thanksgiving and Autumn and proceeding directly to Christmas.

We have been painting sky walks for the last two weeks so we needed to take a day to relax and regroup. Susan isn't getting a lot of that. Even today, she had to go to the Arena at 4:00 to work a Metalica concert.

The local C.O.P.S. shops sponsored a Carriage ride around the park today. It was to go from noon to 2 but so many people showed up that they went until 3:30.

I was putting up lights outside and watching the crowds come and go. I listened from the balcony as a young mother and her friend walked by complaining that they had planned the whole thing all wrong, not having more horses so she and her son could ride. The whole time she liberally used the "f" word as a noun, verb, adjective, as her son held her hand. With a mother like that, he doesn't have a chance.

I finally got the lights up and Susan got a good start on Mantleville. It's a good start on the Christmas Season.

Fall Harvest

It was a beautiful crisp Autumn day with a bright blue sky and a crap load of leaves that needed to be put in their place. 

We did good! We got the leaves cleaned up and bagged and the yard is ready for winter. 

This is my harvest of leaves, 525 gallons or about 80 bushels. That's a total guess on the bushels part. There are 21 thirty gallon bags containing approximately 25 gallons of leaves per bag.

You may also notice that these bags are nestled in a bed of leaves. I'll get those in the spring.

Pumpkin Toss

When we get to the Annual Great Pumpkin Toss, you know that the Halloween Season has come to an end.

It was a beautiful day for the Toss with bright sunny skies and temperatures in the 50's.

Here are some pictures.

Susan is holding her Pineapple O'Lantern.

All the contestants scored lots of points for splatter.

Halloween Twenty-Eighteen

7:58AM: Halloween is not starting out on a positive note. It is raining. It has been raining all night and continues into the morning. Even if it stops for the evening, it is going to be wet and sloppy out there.

The good news for me is that I may not even have to bother with the Flying Ghost. Wetness is the enemy of the Flying Ghost. We shall see how it goes.

11:37AM: Progress is progressing slowly in the yard. The rain stopped and it's not as wet out as I thought. 

I have successfully achieved a working flying ghost, although it has been paired down to single flying ghost between two posts rather than three.

Susan had to run in to work for a couple hours this morning but she has returned and she and her cousin, Louise and prepping food. I'm getting out ladders and some of the decorations. 

3:00PM: Everything is coming together.

We are operating smoothly and we will be ready for the throngs by 4:30.

10:07 PM: The evening is over and the total number of haunted visitors is somewhere between 17 and 18 hundred. The discrepancy comes from two houses that keep count with a clicker and the times they quit giving out candy. Let's just say we had a crap load of little ghouls relieve us of hundreds of pieces of candy

In the meantime, here are some pictures.

I'm going to bed!

'Ween and Wine

One sure sign that Halloween is only days away is that inevitably, it will start to rain. The rain started yesterday and as of this morning, has not let up. 

That means that tomorrow, I will be raking (not blowing) very wet leaves in preparation for Wednesday night.

We've gotten started on getting Halloween set up but still have a long way to go. This weekend will be busy and I'm taking Wednesday off in order to fine tune everything.

However, I have much to get caught up on prior to discussing Halloween.

The main thing is an update on our 2018 batch of Petite Verdot wine. Last Monday, I went to Jim's Home Brew to rent their fruit press. 

For the past several years I have gone through the long and futile task and squeezing the juice out of my grape pulp by hand. When I realized that Jim's had the press available, I jumped on it. Best $25.00 rental I've spent.

So I set everything up in what appeared to be the most efficient way to move the pulp out of my primary fermenter and into the secondary.

I placed my mesh bag into the barrel of the press in order to make removing the pressed pulp that much easier.

I then began ladling the pulp into the barrel until I had it full. At that point, I began to turn the press and clamp down on the berries as the pressed juice flowed out.

I had an unfortunate accident as I got a little bit too carried away in my pulp transfer. When I was finally able to lift the primary and pour the pulp and remaining juice through the press, I forgot that the catch tray has a very low lip. That caused me a little extra clean up that I had not counted on.

All in all, it took about two hours from start to clean up and I had just over six gallons and pressed juice to ferment.

The must is currently bubbling away in the kitchen. I'll check the gravity tomorrow but I think it still has a way to go.

Prepping for the "Ween"

Fall has definitely hit the Inland Empire and it is a beautiful Autumn day out thar.

Susan is working Disney on Ice all weekend so she has a very limited window in which she can get stuff done.

And since I accomplished so little in the area of Halloween decorating last Monday, it is up to me to get stuff done.

I'm starting with the front porch with a small easy project, putting up the lights.

But first, we have to get stuff down from the Carriage House.

Okay, the stuff is down and Susan has left for work. In the time that has passed since the last paragraph, I have visited Jim's Home Brew and had our grape juice tested. It has too much acid in it and to solve that problem, I mixed 43 grams of Calcium Carbonate into a cup of luke warm water and added it to the must barrel.

With the wine squared away for the day, I'm going out to hang some lights.

4:41PM: Finally, I got the lights up and I am good for the day, Here are some pictures.

The Cougars of Washington State are playing the University of Oregon Ducks and they've just been intercepted and Oregon has the ball waaaaay down on the Cougs 5 yard line.

I'm going to go get a burger and watch the rest of the first half at the Hub.

8:45PM: The Cougars are victorious! They beat the Ducks 34-20. They held them to zero points in the first half. Oregon made it interesting in the third quarter but the Cougs managed to hold them off.

Me drink beer now!!

Wine Weekend

Last evening, we returned from our annual trip to the Yakima Valley Region in the great state of Warshington. We go down and buy grapes for our quasi-professional wine making hobby.

This year, we made it down for "The Crush" weekend, a yearly festival of wines and wine making and most importantly, wine drinking.

Both Susan and I made an extra special effort to not drink too much thereby causing one to return to the hotel room by 2PM and nap for the rest of the day. I did a lot of spitting.

I think we visited 7 or 8 wineries between 11:00 and 5:00 on Saturday. We spent the first part of the day roaming around the region known as Rattlesnake Hills. We went to many wineries that we had been to before and at least two that were new to us. We ended up in Prosser, which seemed to be the epicenter of all the Crush activity.

At the end of the day, we returned to our Bed and Breakfast town of Sunnyside and went to dinner at Snipes Mountain. This is another regular stop for us, as they have really good wood fired pizza.

We returned to the room and watched "The Road to Perdition". We had seen it before, although Susan swears she had not. For me, it was much more enjoyable the second time.

We always stay at the Sunnyside Inn, in part because they give us a great breakfast. That was the case again this year on both Saturday and Sunday.

We began our Sabbath wine tasting adventure at 14 Hands. Susan bought a bottle there to start us off for the day. Our next stop was one of our favorites, DavenLor. We always return with a resealable bottle which they switch out for a full bottle of Recovery Red.

By then, we were starting to get burned out on wine tasting but we still had some places to visit. We always go to Kestrell because we are in their wine club and always buy a case of "Lady in Red". It a good wine that ends up costing about eight bucks a bottle.

By then it was 1:00 and we decided it was time to go pick up our grapes.

I haven't mentioned that we were accompanied on this trip by Susan's friend Ellen. We got Ellen involved in wine making several years ago and this will be her first attempt at making wine from scratch. In other words, from grapes rather than a kit.

We are buying from a new source this year since our old source, Patricia O'Brien, retired and sold her farm.

We ended up buying from her nephew, Chad. We agreed to meet at 3:00 for the pickup. We were hoping we could arrive early. On the way, we decided to stop at one last winery, Barrel Springs, because this was another new one for us and it was on the way.

It was a very nice place and they paired up a bunch of cheeses with their wine. They also had a feature that caught my attention enough to take one of the few pictures I took this weekend.

They had a piano bar similar to mine and it was for sale for about $2,000.00. Theirs was different from mine in that they left the harp in the piano, which make it substantially heavier. It also cuts down on the room you have inside to store bottle.

But it also had a beautiful wine rack built into the bottom of the piano. It was very cool and the workmanship was excellent.

From Barrel Springs, we drove another four miles out into the plains of Prosser to the O'Brien Farms location where we were to pick up our grapes.

We got there about 1:30

We arrived to an empty farm. Nobody was there. We decided in the interest of time and in order to get Ellen back to town that we would load all our luggage into Ellens car in order to make room for all the ice chests we needed for the grapes.

Then we all drove to one last winery, Terra Blanca. This is a winery with ridiculously over priced bottles because they have to pay for the magnificent building they have erected.

We went in for a tasting because it was part of the passport we purchased and then we sent Ellen on her way back to Spokane. 

Susan and I returned to O'Brien Farms only to find it still empty. We decided to wait for half an hour for Chad to show up. It only took five minutes.Chad arrived and I wrote him a check for $200.00. We transferred the grapes into the various ice chests and where on our way.

Then we drove to one last winery because Susan wanted to use the bathroom. This was another favorite of ours called Chandler Reach.

It's located right off the freeway and is really a nice place.

During our tasting, we discovered that they may be willing to sell small batches of grapes. I got the card of the General Manager and will contact her in the next couple of days.

We got in the car and began our two and a half hour return to Spokane. Ellen had stopped at the house and dropped off all our stuff. We had the grapes which we will be crushing on Wednesday.

It was a great weekend but boy was I beat! That's why we only do this once a year.

Boiler Game Conclusion

If you are playing the Boiler Game and you picked today as the day we would turn on the heat, you loose.

It might be the earliest end of the Boiler Game in the competition's 12 year history.

I filled the system on Saturday morning and almost immediately ran into a disaster. I closed the valve on the boiler and started filling the system. After 20 minutes, I realized the leak in the Dining Room had resumed. I charged upstairs and closed the valve on the radiator in the upstairs bedroom. 

I could not believe my stupidity for allowing it to happen again but I was equally mystified at how quickly the system filled. Especially on a trickle.

I was pissed! Susan was really pissed!! Fortunately, the leak subsided and no damage was done.

The other concern was leaks in the TV Room where the pipes for the temporarily removed radiator have been capped. All was well in there as well.

So, with the system filled and free of leakage, I lit the pilot light on the boiler on Sunday evening. Only one person guessed September 30th. 

Congratulations to Eldon Fanortner of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mr. Fanortner will receive a package of cheese curds and a Gift Certificate for 15% off an oil change at any one of the 5 local locations of Spokane Lube and Oil.

Second Crush

We fired up the Grape Crusher again tonight.

I was put in contact with Nate by James at Jim's Home Brew. He was the first guy to contact me about renting the crusher. 
Consequently, I quoted him a really low number for using the Crusher. $10.00 per 100 pounds. 

I have since raised it to $10.00 per 50 pounds. I think we may also add a cleaner fee of $25.00.

Nate did a one day trip to Walla Walla, picked 300 pounds of grapes from two different vineyards and then drove back to Spokane, arriving at our house at 7:30 to crush.

We set up in the garage with a tarp on the floor. I think we did the whole 300 pounds in about an hour.

Accomplishment Man

It's my Monday off and the plan was to finish the dry walling. Which we did. I started about 9:30 and Phil showed up about 10:30.

We finished up in an hour and a half. I spent some time after Phil left working on some electrical issues I had to deal with. With that accomplished, it was time to try and clean up the porch. I did okay but the porch really needs to be hosed down and thoroughly gone over.

I loaded up the left over dry wall and hauled it to Habitat for Humanity. The rest will go the dump next weekend.

So now it's about 2:30 and I have accomplished my major goals. I'm going to try and do a couple of other things but I also may not do those things.

I'll leave this post open and update you on my continuing accomplishments or lack thereof.

3:53PM: I actually did some good. I did a little bit of organizing in the garage. When I say "A little bit", I mean a very little bit. However, my "little bit " was enough to make room in the garage for the new grape crusher. 

I have a guy coming by the house tomorrow at 7PM to crush 300 pounds of grapes. For that, we will be paid $30.00. I have since learned that that is not enough. I quoted him $10.00 per 100 pounds. It should be $10-$15.00 per 50 pounds plus a cleaning fee.

Oh well, I'm learning.

Spokane Preservation Association Tour of Homes

The tour of homes was today and four houses were open on Corbin Park. Susan and I set up a booth for our Home Owners Association. We were just making an appearance and handing out a little pamphlete that is a walking tour of the houses around the park.

Our neighbors, Ted and Rhonda took over for us at 2:00 and we toured the houses. Only one of the houses was one we had not been in before so it was worth it to get in and snoop.

It turned out to be a little bit of a chilly day but it's the end of September. What do you expect?!

Prepping for Tour of Homes

It is 2:30 and I am beat. It's not that we did that much. I just have very low stamina.

Nonetheless, we got the Carriage House painted on the alley side of the building where we scraped and primed a couple of weekends ago. So that project is in the books.

Then we went to work on the front yard to clean out the flower beds and make the yard look half way presentable. We can only do so much with what we have.

Hence the beatness of me. It doesn't take much.

The Spokane Preservation Society, of which we are a part, is having it's annual tour of older homes tomorrow and it's all here around the park. There are only four homes on the tour whereas usually there are six to eight. 

But we thought we should clean up as best we can to show a good face for the neighborhood.

Now I'm going to get cleaned up and prepare to go to an OctoberFest celebration somewhere in the Valley.

Mmmmmmmmm,  Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!

DryWallin'...Finally

It is my Monday off and today we tackled the drywall. Phil got here about 10:00 and we went to work on completing this project. 

There were a few little obstacles that kept our progress from going through fluidly. But we overcame the obstacles and got most of the drywall up.

The obstacles all dealt with electricity. I had to change out a fourplex box of outlets that will be used for the TV. There was another outlet that had to be disconnected and then reconnected once the drywall was in place.

We ended up running out of sheets. I purchased 12 sheets for a total of about $150.00. I'm not sure we used the sheets as efficiently as we could have. But it's hard to parcel out the sheets when every sheet we used had to be cut down in some fashion.

I think I'm going to try and use up the small pieces of drywall I have and then Phil and I can finish up on Saturday.

The Painters

We have some painting to do. Pictured above is the alley side of the Carriage House. We had it painted about five years ago and it was already peeling badly.

So Susan and I got out there with the scrapers and peeled a crap load of weathered paint off the siding.

Then we broke out the primer paint and slapped it up there. There was also another portion of the house that needed a little touch up.

This is on the west side of the house. For some reason, the paint on this bit of trim just completely pulled away from the wood and was hanging by a thread. What you see in the picture is after I have scraped away the bad paint and put up some primer. I'll get to the painting portion tomorrow. I hope.