catch up

I have been a bad blogger. Lots of things have happened lately and I still have pics on my camera. Maybe I can catch up quickly. Joe and I went to the fair. We had a Nelson family barbecue with lots of good pics. Meg and Bill Anniversary trip to Willamette wine country, Boy Scout overnight in the rain, Court of Honor, Joe's 11th birthday, etc... pictures coming soon....

Coming up it will be equally busy. The Wine crush is coming up soon and we need to bottle last years wine. Meg has been working hard at designing a new logo along with a new name for our winery. I should post some possibilities soon. Sunday is the Boeing Open House at the 737 factory. Jess has his homecoming dance coming up next week. He has had a lot of fun playing the trumpet and football games and there are still a few more home games coming up. Lots of Scout events also in October. Joe and I are going to watch the Seahawks in Oakland on Halloween.

Skeeter Pee

I made Skeeter Pee this summer. It is a lemon wine invented by some guy in Minnesota (www.skeeterpee.com). It is kind of like hard lemonade but it isn't malted like Mike's is. It is actually wine. It is hard to get to ferment because of the acidity so I need to use a "working" yeast from another batch of wine. I used my yeast slurry from my apricot wine. It tastes great and it hard to believe it is 9-10% alcohol until you have had a couple. It is powerful but really tastes great on a hot day when it is ice cold.

Yesterday Jess and I kayaked over to the old St. Charles Winery on Stretch Island to check out the Maritime Museum. They are selling everything to the Working Waterfront Museum in Tacoma so it is one of my last chances to see the First Winery in Washington. Harley Somers gave us a tour and I noticed all the old bottles in the back room. I wanted them bad and he sold me 8 cases of new bottles. 6 of the cases still had labels on them. They are definitely antiques because the winery closed in 1965. The bottles are small (4/5 of a pint) and there are 24 in a case. They look like whiskey pint flasks. There were 2 cases without labels and I bottled my Skeeter Pee in those today. It is perfect for Skeeter Pee. Need to have a party soon!! Too bad we are always busy.....