MAKING WINE

This Fall we are making white wine, it is either Riesling or Pinot Grigo. We have made the reds before. While the process is similar it is a bit different.

With the whites you have to press the grapes for the juice and with the reds you mash and filter later. The process of juicing takes a while, we did about 40lbs of grapes in 3 hours. Once the grapes are juiced you then add the chemicals and let it sit for about a week, then you transfer it to another jug. You keep transferring to new jugs until clear. Then you get to bottle.

The wine is coming along nicely. We did our first transfer last night. I tasted it and boy it would have been easy to sit there on the kitchen floor with that tube and just drink away. It has such a great taste. Sweet but not overly so, no after taste and had the best fruit flavor. Joy, it reminded me of LaVelle's...close at least...yes you will get a bottle....giggles.

If you look closely at the upper pictures you will see the sediment in the bottles, this is why we transfer the wine. This bottle isn't as "thick" and cloudy as the others.

COLUMBIA GORGE TRIP

Scott and I took a trip up the Columbia Gorge here in Oregon. Scott had only been up there when we were on our way from Iowa and I hadn't been up that way to look and see since I was a kid. I really wanted to show him all the things I remembered of the area and even the things I didn't....lol.

Our first stop was at a viewpoint where you could look out and see the Vista House. Here are some of the pictures from that stop. You can see the Vista house on the hill and look down into the valley. That is the Columbia River that you see.

Our next stop was the Vista House. It was built around 1912 and is just stunning. The whole building is marble, it truly is beautiful.

Then we moved on to the waterfalls. There are several that are all part of the Multnomah Falls recreation area. The first one is Latourell Falls.

When we climbed up the trail to see the fall I got part way up and started feeling some serious pain in my left calf. I actually heard my Doctor in my head saying "Let pain be your guide." I told Scott I was hurting and didn't think I could climb anymore hills. So the rest of the photos are taken at ground level. We plan on making the trip again next year and hopefully I will be healed enough to make the hikes. I really didn't want to do anymore damage to that muscle than I already have, I will need it the rest of my life...lol.

We traveled on down the tree lined roads and I took more pictures. They are just of the trees and the cool old bridge.

Next stop was at Wahkeena Falls.

The next stop was at the world famous Multnomah Falls, this is the Horsetail Falls. This is the second largest year round waterfalls in the US, 620 ft from top to bottom.

There was one other waterfall that we stopped at but I don't know the name of it, but here it is.

From here we made our way to the Bonneville Dam and the fish hatchery. We got to see Herman the 65 yr old white Sturgeon, he is not a pretty fish....lol.

Now on a personal note. When we go on these trips if we see a group of people who are taking pictures of themselves and trying to get group photos we usually ask if they would like us to take a photo of the group. Most people are very happy about that and we do it for them. I would love to have someone say sure now can we take a picture for you. Rarely does this happen, so it is now going to be my policy to offer but only if they will do the same for us. While on this trip we spoke with a couple who said nobody believes they take the same trips because they can never get a couple shot. So we took their picture for them but they didn't offer to do the same for us....grrr. Ok off my chest now I can move on...lol. I hope you enjoyed our trip up the Columbia River Gorge. Be sure and check back in a couple weeks since we are going to the Oregon coast for a few days and I will post more pictures of my beautiful state.

FAIR ISLE HAT

Scott has a new hat!!! I actually knitted a fair isle hat for him. I am very pleased with how it turned out and have everything lined up to knit one for DD.

The pattern used in in the book "Hats On" I used Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn.

DON"T MESS WITH A GIRL

So our DD had her heart broken this last week. Her and her boyfriend of 2 1/2 yrs broke up. Oh and this was her first love, ever. So you can just imagine the pain she is in.

So on Sunday Scott took her to the gun range. she had a great time shooting the .38. she actually is a pretty good shot.

While at the range the now ex called and asked her what she was doing when she told him where she was and what she was doing he asked if she had a giant cardboard cut out of him. She told him no and then sent him a picture of these targets. all he could say was ouch.

Yep don't mess with a girl with a broken heart. And especially if she knows how to shoot a gun....lol.

Fair Isle

I have wanted to give Fair Isle knitting a try for sometime now, but have been a big ol' chicken. It always looks so difficult but ohhh so pretty. I have done stripes, slip stitch knitting and even little blocks of color but never Fair Isle. So today was the day!!! I jumped in with both feet and about an hour later this is what I had. I found some very easy to understand directions over at www.knittingdaily.com and they even had a chart. So on top of working on Fair Isle I also had to work from a chart...not so good at that but did fine today.
I am so proud of myself. Now to find an easy pattern to put my new found skill to the test.

Below is the last KAL for Shirley'sKnittingKnook that I did. It is a witches hat for Halloween. Scott thought it was "a surfer dude" that is a direct quote.

ROAD TRIP

We drove from Eugene, OR to Council Bluffs, IA and then back. We left here on Sunday morning and arrived in IA on Tuesday afternoon. We then left IA on Friday morning and arrived home in the middle of the night Saturday/Sunday.

We had a great time for the most part...we went due to a death in the family, but we did manage to do some sight seeing and have a pretty good time.

I thought I would show you some of what we saw. Please keep in mind most of the pictures were taken going 80 mph on the Interstate.

OREGON

IDAHO

UTAH

WYOMING

NEBRASKA

IOWA

SOUTH DAKOTA

MINNESOTA

BACK TO SOUTH DAKOTA

WYOMING

MONTANA

WASHINGTON