Grape Run 2019

We have just returned from our Wine Tasting Weekend in the Columbia Valley region of Washington State. Prosser, basically.

We usually go down about this time of year to procure grapes for home wine making. This year, they had a freeze near the end of September and a lot of grapes were lost. That really sped up the harvest and there were no grapes for us this year.

We're going to end up buying a kit from Jim's Home Brew just so we have something the ferment this winter.

It was a lovely weekend as usual and we bought a lot of wine, as usual.

We returned to Spokane in time to go to our neighborhood Halloween party. It was held at a neighbors house down the street and they decided to do it outside. They had two fires going and we had lots of food and lots to drink. It was a fun annual event which means that Halloween is days away.

I'm taking Thursday off so we can get ready for the big night. We have a lot to do this week. I better go!

Eighteen Days to Halloween

We have been breaking out all the Halloween stuff and believe me, it's a lot of stuff. We are also beginning the task of acquiring candy and believe me, we need a lot. For this year at least, I've given up on my pledge to buy 300 full size candy bars to give out. We just feel we need the money to cover 1800 kids this year.

Today, I completed putting up a modified version of the Axworthy Flying Ghost. The thing has always been a major pain in the ass to put up and then to take down. I decided to make it easier on myself  to put the thing up. Yes, it's all about me!

Rather than three posts in the yard, I have modified it to run between the two trees in the front of the house.

Here is how it looks.

Susan, as always, is badgering me to add a second ghost but I'm not excited about that idea.  It's a small enough span that one ghost is fine and she is not the one who has to get everything back on track when it falls off.

The one thing I am worried about is that it is in great danger of being whacked as kids go under it. We are going to have to be very attentive to whackers.

We will be on whack patrol.

Attention Scumbags

It sure is nice to be around smart, stable, honest people you can depend on. That is because there appears to be so many stupid, unbalanced, dishonest shit for brains Scumbags out there.

The picture above displays a small part of what I have to do regarding the afore mentioned Scumbags. The wicker chairs on the front porch must be secured from Scumbags. 

This all comes up because I was putting the chairs away for the season and got a little pissed off at how difficult it was to disengage the chain from the chairs. Then I was reminded that if not for the chain, we wouldn't have any chairs at all. Hence, this mini tirade!

EffU Scumbags!

Autumn Work

Today, with the death of our cat Oscar, we have accepted that Autumn is here. So we are trying to clean up the yard and put away some flower pots. I have already taken down the massive vines of hops and I need to trim back the grape vines.

Once we got the flowers packed up, Susan went to work on more window scraping and I set about to get those two last window panes installed. I bought two panes of glass at Home Depot that were 11" x 14". I needed to cut them to 10.25" x 10.75". 

I butchered the first pane and then broke into unusable pieces. Susan showed me the proper way to cut glass and I easily installed that first pane.

Then it was back to the Depot to get another piece of glass.

That one cut easily once I knew what I was doing and the installation is complete, glazing and all.

So now our day is winding down and it is time to go to the Hub for some richly deserved frosty malt beverage. 

Oscar 2000-2019

When we went to bed last night, we were pretty sure Oscar was not going to be with us in the morning. I've been thinking that for the last several days. We sat in front of the fireplace and he sat on our laps, very weak and not moving much. I'd like to think he was comfortable and content.

At the end of the evening, we placed him on the warm floor in the bathroom and he passed sometime during the night. We took him to the Vet this morning and arranged for a cremation.

So now we are catless and expect to be that way for a while. Oh, there will be cats. Susan will see to that. But when will there be cats? That is the question. Perhaps we can start the Cat Game. I predict there will be cats by Thanksgiving.

You were a good cat. Rest in Peace, Oscar.