Today was harvest day at SA vineyards. Joyce and I got started right after breakfast and were ready to start the crush by 11:30. Last year we used Abigail and Rebecca but we felt they were just too light to do a good job so this year Kari agreed to do it for us. We dumped the grapes into a big wash tub in the man-cave and Kari got after it. There are a lot of spiders in a tub full of grape bunches so she did a little spider dance on the grapes which worked out nicely.
We harvested 117 pounds of grapes compared to last year’s 100 due to having one more vine producing this year than last. From that 117 pounds we extracted about eight gallons of juice. That is double last year’s haul, due to a better crush and the use of a wine press to press the grapes after the crush. We had the wine press last year, a birthday gift from Kari and Jill, but didn’t know how to use it. As one might expect, this year went a lot smoother than last year.
We’re not experts but we’re learning and there is no substitute for experience. Everything from vine management to the crush to the making of the wine itself is going much better this year and I have much more confidence that the end product will be much improved.
On a more somber note, Max the dog stopped running today. He wasn’t able to get up and so Kari and Chris had him put down. He only outlasted his brother Harley a month or so. Max and I had our differences. I thought he was unprincipled and sneaky and he thought I was a genuine SOB. I can’t argue with that assessment and he was Kari’s friend so I tried to make allowances.
Tuesday evening we had a mini-hurricane come through town. The weather weenies reported 78 mph winds and I have no reason to doubt them. Looking out our kitchen window we couldn’t the trees in the meadow for the blowing rain at times. The inch and a half of rain would have been more beneficial if had accumulated over 15 hours instead of 15 minutes but we take what we can get. It did a number on the cypress west of the garage but it was courteous enough to drop it where it wouldn’t do any damage to the house or the trees surrounding it. It did block the driveway where we couldn’t get the car out of the garage. I was all set to take Wednesday afternoon off and tackle the job of removing it. Before I could, though, Joyce had her boyfriend come over and take care of it. I didn’t let that hurt my pride any. I even told Joyce she’s welcome to have him do whatever she wants on the place. I’m not worried about not having anything to do and if we should ever get to that point I’m willing to kick back and take life easy. I am not proud.
Joyce and I went to see Obama 2016 Friday evening. In case you haven’t heard of it, it is a documentary about how Obama grew up and the influences in his life. We didn’t learn anything we didn’t already know but I think there are a lot of people who don’t know the things the documentary deals with and should. The theater wasn’t packed but was full so maybe there are fewer than there were.