The newspaper editor brought several copies of the newspaper that had our "Thank You" to all the folks who helped with the Art Contest.
One of my prouder moments!
Wednesday, August 14th
We worked all week in the winery. There was so much to clean, sort, stash, throw away, and organize. I made several orders for winery and vineyard supplies for next year. We continued to bottle some of last year's wine. All the little things take far more time than you think it will!
Thursday, August 15th
By the time we were finished the floor was sticky to about the 9th degree and we were all sporting grape stains.
Friday, August 16th
We took the entire day to clean up the winery and the pressing equipment and supplies. We obviously weren't working very quickly; we were tired!
Saturday, August 17th
We didn't stay for the show, the walk through the vineyards, or the evening snacks. It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
Sunday, August 18th
Earlier in the week we had planned to leave today, but it was not to be. Some of the white wine was still actively fermenting and that was reason enough, but there was also the matter of new barrels.
Monday, August 19th
We were back at Rivero-Gonzalez to pick up the barrels we had arranged for on the previous Saturday. Of course, both barrels had leaks and had to be filled, refilled and refilled again with water before they tightened up. My ingenious husband figured he could water the orchid with the run-off. Isn't that cute?
Thursday, August 22nd
Finally, we were on the bus!
We had an uneventful trip to the valley. Tom and Ellen picked us up at the bus station in McAllen and within half an hour at the little Edinburg house, we felt like we were all settled in.
On Friday, we spent most of the morning pumping up Blue Bird's tire and charging up her battery. Then, as if to punish us for being abandoned for two months, her Check Engine Light came on. Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday flew by with chores, errands, the garden, a dance on Friday night, mail sorting, a delicious shrimp dinner with Charlie and Peggy, a trip to the garage to investigate the "check engine light," several rain showers, a visit to the garden center, shopping, cooking, a little TV, and the always necessary infernal telephone calls.
Tuesday, August 27th
Stanley's birthday! He wanted no celebration. Make that NO celebration. I think he reasoned that he had had all the celebration he wanted or needed with the Vendimia two weeks before. He asked for peace and calm so we spent the day driving to San Antonio with a celebratory (?) lunch at Strickland's.
Wednesday, August 28th
We got Blue Bird to the transmission shop for her repair job and made Stanley's dental appointment. He got a clean bill of health and we don't have to do anything more about that until December 5th. That seems a long way off, but I know it's not.
We spent that evening with Sarah, David and their family. Zac only made a brief appearance for dinner, but the other three - Grayson, Cooper, and Sweet Pea - were in full force.
By the time the boys finished homework, had a brief time outside, and dinner, it was time for bath, books, and bed. Of course, I volunteered to do the bedtime reading, but it was not the peaceful experience I was hoping for. Both boys wanted to read to me. They make quite a team. Grayson has made an awesome leap in his ability to read that Cooper hasn't made yet. Between Grayson helping too much and Cooper resisting the much needed help, I found myself in quite the emotional battle. Which one to throttle first?
Sweet Pea doesn't get involved in battles like that. She just loves books, and after one or two readings she knows them by heart. Don't even try to skip a page or ad lib. She's on to all those tricks and suffers absolutely no deviation from the written word.
David fixed a great dinner while Sarah supervised homework and Sweet Pea watched the news on TV. I made salad. Stanley tried real hard to stay out of the way. E-Readers are a wonderful thing.
Thursday, August 29th
By late afternoon Blue Bird was out of the transmission shop and into Anderson's Garage for a tune-up, oil change, etc.
We were stuck at Frosty's house for part of the day, but being stuck at Frosty's house is not so bad as it might sound. In fact, we love being there.
Late Thursday evening I checked my email to find a message from our Edinburg neighbor. He reported that there had been a 2.3 inch rainfall with fierce winds - so fierce that our front door blew open.
The car was still in the shop and we had made plans to have grill night with Sarah and her family the following evening. I wrote back for details and to explain the situation. Charlie responded saying he had already taken care of the clean up and we were to stay in San Antonio as planned.
Friday, August 30th
We picked up the car, took it Discount Tire to check on a leaky tire, went shopping for books for the kids, grocery shopping for all the grill stuff and were at the Locke door by 5:00PM.
Saturday, August 31st
Back in Edinburg by 2:00PM. Charlie must have been in the house even more quickly than we thought because we could find no damage at all. David is on the job and hopefully by next week-end we will have a new door, new jamb, new trim inside, and a new storm door.
Dicen que lo que empieza bien, termina bien.
Translation: They say that what begins well, ends well.
August got off to a splendid start, there was a mountain of wonderful moments, and at the very end a very thoughtful neighbor saved us from what could have been a real trauma. Thanks, Charlie!
In other related August news:
Hoping everyone had a great August. It's back to school for some, the same old grind for others, and off to Europe for us. Details later.
