No Wine Before Its Time

Red Red Wine, make me feel so fine! If you know anything about me, you know I like red wine. My favorite is Port with a piece of fine chocolate, not that cheap stuff. The way to drink it is to take a sip of Port and swish it around to clean your pallet. Then take a piece of chocolate, chew it up, but don’t swallow it yet. Take another sip of Port mix up the nuances and flavors and enjoy. It doesn’t get any better than that! I started my wine tasting career years ago. I like to fully experience the wines I taste, most of all I love to smell the wine. (Yes I’m a wine huffer) I have a great nose for wine. (No nose jokes JF) I like guessing all the different smells that are associated with the wine. Is it earthy, fruity, woody, chewy or peppery? I believe that wine cleanses your pallet and compliments the food so you can really taste the food. I really take it all in, not like some, who belly up to the bar for free wine. They forgot or just don’t know anything about wine tasting. Wineries offer wine for tasting in hopes you’ll like it and buy it, that’s a good deal. I do the S’s…Sight, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Swish and Swallow (or Spit-but not so much!). If I’m smiling there’s a sale. There is a lot more to wine than just drinking it. I’ve been to a lot of great wineries in my travels and now I’m making my own wine. Last year we picked the Zinfandel grapes, de-stemmed and crushed our own wine grapes. We did all the tests and added the yeast to start the fermentation process then punched it down three times a day for a week. We had purple hands for a week too. We transferred the juice into a sixty-gallon barrel to finish the fermentation. That wine had a heartbeat of it’s own! The vapor lock on top of the barrel pulsed like something out of a Vincent Price movie. After a few weeks we racked it and next week we will rack it again, so far it’s doing well. (Fingers crossed, eyes too!) We have two labels already designed. I’ll show them off when the wine is done. I like a lot of other thing that are associated with wineries, one of my favorites is Cline. It’s just down the road from Sears Point Speedway (yeah Nascar wine country) I like their Zinfandel’s but the grounds are also beautiful, with ponds, roses and bird aviaries. There are so many beautiful wineries to visit in California. Cline had a poem on the back label of a bottle of Zinfandel and had to remove it because of some California bureaucratic bull crap. It’s probably the same idiot bureaucrats that want to change everything that has been a part of this country for over 200 years. If they don’t like it, leave it. Why sweat the small stuff. Hope you enjoy this poem as much as I do.

Know me stranger, for I am Thy life’s blood and thy nectar,
I shall wet thy lips, parched by The winds of deprivation
And nourished shall be thy body,Desiccated by the scorching
Inferno of temperanc Rest thy head upon my bosom,
Lose thy self in the ecstasy of My caresses, and know me
For I am
ZINFANDEL!

I AM NOT A FAN

With the upcoming game it would be appropriate for me to tell my take on the game.
Super Bowl,the BIG game, and the BIG event of the year. What’s with all the hype leading up to the game? Who will be number one? Who will sing the Star Spangled Banner? Who will win? Which company will have the best commercials? Fact: They spend 5 million a minute in advertisements. Show me the money! What will the big drama be this year? I hope nothing like last year or was that the year before? … it was only a little boobie
About the fans, what is a fan? It’s a device that blows air around! All I hear is… “My team is going to beat your team” “Did you see that pass?” “Hey Ref are you blind? He wasn’t out of bounds”. “Did you see that touch down?” “Our Quarterback is better. The kicker is better, No mine’s better, No mine is!” Oh no, I have to listen to John Madden and he’s writing on the screen again, those markings! I can’t see the replay. Hey you idiot I know the rules shut up already! No more Madden Please! Sorry, I got carried away. Bottom line is, someone is eating crow for dinner, what goes good with crow? Serve it up with a heaping helping of hot air. If we could harness all that hot air, and turn it in to useful energy we could solve Bush’s new energy plan before the end of the year. Personally, I like my crow with fava beans and a nice Chianti! (LoL) Don’t get me wrong football’s okay, I just have not watched in the last 5 years. That’s a later story. Who is playing any ways? I have watched a lot of football over the years. I like to root for the home team, San Francisco 49ers is my team. I know, they suck since Joe left. Back in the day, (1970’s) I watched Monday Night Football with my Dad. I would make popcorn the old fashion way (on the stove) and we would enjoy the game together. If I remember right, the favorite teams were: Miami, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. The point is- I am not a “fan”, I don’t blow air. I am an enthusiast, a Nascar enthusiast. My favorite sport is Nascar, never missed a race till I meet Ali. The things you do for Love! This Sunday we will head down to the local watering hole and have a cold one with our friends. We’ll enjoy the game and the commercials, the company and the food. Maybe it’s really all about the food, hmmm?

I want a Donkey

I have a crazy family, everyone is a comedian. Tim my brother
in-law posted a picture of a donkey with its' head in the
refrigerator and I thought, now that's a nice looking Ass.
Oops! I'm doing it again...look out,you might get more then
you bargained for! Ali's and my love for animals goes a
long way. We have about 43 pets you might think we've lost
our minds. Believe me, my house has always been a Zoo.
Old Mac Matty wants a farm E-I-E-I-O, Not! But if we did we
would have a couple of donkeys. Ali's already has names picked
out Shane & Hote. Can you figure out the names and why? If not
it's Donkey Shane & Donkey Hote-think about it! Yeah, were not
right! (I've always wanted to name a dog Quat then call the dog,
get it?) Here's an odd donkey fact for you:Donkeys kill more
people annually than plane crashes. I'm sick, it's hereditary,
I can't help it. I'd like to share a favorite poem of Ali's
Grandma Kay who is no longer with her, but she is still in her
heart.

I HAD A LTTLE DONKEY THATS GREY
I FEED HIM IN THE BARN EVERY DAY
AND WE HE HEARS ME WHISTLE
HE KNOWS I HAVE A THISLE
CUZ' HEE HAW HEE HAW (she'd put her hands up like ears)
THAT IS ALL MY DONKEY CAN SAY

Now this blogging business is all Tim's fault he started it
with his blog. You first read his blog and comments to him.
Then you read theirs (the commenter's) and so on it doesn't
stop. So you start your own. Now it seems like I've captured
a small audience, it's great!!! Thanks Tim! Ok, just one more
thing and I'll quit...
Contrary to what my sister JF says Tim is not a "grouch" and
also, I have heard my Sisters sing together (it wasn't pretty).
No American Idols there (LoL)!

I've become a Geek

I started the New Year blogging . I wrote 2 stories then got wrapped up in technology. CRASH,BANG...I made a new start...I became a Computer Geek. I networked the house and got myself a 19 inch Sony LCD monitor. Since I'm getting older I needed bigger monitor to see. Added a wireless router so Ali ,my wife, can use her laptop in or out of the house. Added a Media Lounge so we can play our music on the home surround system, it sounds great, we love it. Installed two 250 gig external hard drives one for picture's and one for music. For the last 3 weeks I have been importing all our Cd's to the computer. After (a Geek meltdown)...a lot of "&*#@...this is not working & I hate this computer stuff". "Oh its going out the window", but that would only put a hole in the boat. Can't hurt Nita (the boat) she would not be happy. So, I'm getting a hang of it. I should've taken some courses, but I hate school I'm more hands on, stubborn, I can do it myself, I don't need help kinda guy. Yep! So I phoned a friend, Paul he's awsome, he's also my "evil"son-in-law. It was a lot of work and we spent hours with the phone glued to our ears. Today I have 8728 songs that's 22.5days, 36.36GB, I could get really specific but that would be boring unless you too are a Geek. That is a lot of music. I do like my tunes that's just the Cd's. Next I'll start to convert all our cassettes , LP 's and 45's, yes still love to spin vinyl. (We got 8tracks too!) A lot of people just don't want 45's & it's great for us they play great in our jukebox. Love them garage sales, a quarter goes a long way. It's nice to have some friends over and have some music on and not have to change a disk. We can run a slide show of our photos too.
I want to thank all who read my blogs...Thank you ,thank you vera' much!

CYRUS

Cyrus, my companion, my canine friend. She is an Australian Sheppard mix. She turned twelve last October and is nearing her final years she has the usual old dog troubles like arthritis. I got Cyrus to be my fishing buddy to warn me when strangers appeared while I was resting my eyes. One night she stopped two men from coming on to the pier, she made a big ol' racket but later made friends with the two guys and tried to eat their bait. I found her at the local animal shelter, a small fuzzy puppy with an eager smiling face who looked me right in the eye. Maybe I should say she found me, she came right to me and seemed to choose me. Cyrus is a tri-color (mostly blue) with white socks and a white tail that can snap your legs like a wet towel, ouch! She has eyes the color of a newborn baby, not blue,not brown. She is named after Billy Ray Cyrus an early 90's one hit wonder singer of "Achey Breaky Heart". My grand daughter Brittney would ask over and over "Papa play that Icky-Icky song". Cyrus is a long hair dog but gets her annual summer haircuts, when she's shaved her spots show up like a Dalmation. She has sported a Mohawk the last two years, and looked more like a hyena. People often say "hey, look at that cool dog, what kind is she?" She's a great dog, loves to play frisbee, do tricks and swim. You can never water the garden or hose something off without her biting the water stream and end up soaking wet and happy. But, most of all Cyrus loved to PULL! I would hook up the harness and put on my inline skates and off we would go. She would get worked up and yelp and whine loud, like the Alaskan sled dogs, the neighbors would come out of their homes to see what all of the commotion was about. That was one loud happy dog! We both still miss that. Cyrus and I have both become less active but on occasion these "two old dogs" still can get up & dance! I will miss her when she goes, I love this mutt!

NEW YEAR TIME TO TRY SOMETHING NEW

I guess I will start right off with, So why I am here? Christmas is gone and packed away. It's the New Year, fresh start, right? I'm going to try something new. I was inspired to do this by reading my Brother In laws Blogs (The Rambling Irishman). He named it , "What you see is what you get", a fitting title. I like his stories a lot plus I am getting caught up on what that side of the family is up to. You are never to old to do new things, it is what keeps your mind young and your spirits high. Time to jump in...
A fresh start for 2006. What does it mean? I think ,and yes there are times I do think (lol), it means to try new things and some old things too. Give it a try again. Do the things you didn't do last year or things you started and didn't get done. Ya' know what I am taking about? Make this year the year! The year you stick to that diet or whatever, not just two months and quit. All year. I'm taking about all the promises you made to yourself. If you don't, you're only letting yourself down, no one else. Just let go of all the pain and trouble and whatever it is. Let it go so it doesn't interfere with the goals you have. You can do it, you can do it all year long! This year, no regrets!