Bottling the 2007 Vintage Wine

Word of the Day

Hypothecary - A person, usually a college professor, so convinced of his or her own intellectual superiority that he or she feels things like the truth are beneath them. Often attempts to expound their own virtue with so-called hypotheses that bear only superficial resemblance to science, reality, or religion.

Woodtick Count - 17

With all the rain that we've been getting comes mosquitoes. I really don't welt up from their bites anymore. I'm not sure why this lack of welting occurs but I imagine that I've been bitten so often over the years that I've developed a certain immunity to the blood-suckers' poison. However there is no immunity from the constant whine or that initial feeling when they settle down to suck on my blood. I suppose I could spray myself off with Deet whenever I head outside but I don't like the stuff. It gives me a headache. I save the use of Deet for those times that I'm going hiking in the woods.

Deetless, I went outside yesterday to merely dig up a clump of winter onions. My bed of winter onions have gotten out of hand. They desperately need dividing and thinning. I may have to see if I can find homes for some of my winter onions. The ones that I can't find room for in my garden and the ones that I can't actually clean and eat all by myself. I noted as I was cleaning up a huge bunch of winter onions for eating that we're getting close to the time when the winter onions won't be usable again until next spring. In the meantime, as I was out dealing with the overgrown winter onions, deetless, I was being driven mad by the constant whine of the mosquitoes that were desperately attempting to sip on my ears and arms. *sigh*
I abandoned the field.

At this point, I was ready to stay inside for the rest of the day but... Sis and I need rhubarb. My rhubarb needed picking so, risking the barrage of mosquitoes, I returned to the great outdoors. Deetless. Do you remember that old child's tale where the hero swats five flies in one single swat? Well...I was swatting multiple mosquitoes while picking rhubarb, risking major injury because I was armed with a knife to clean the rhubarb. Swatting mosquitoes while armed with a knife is not all that great of an idea. However, I escaped injury. I picked, cleaned, and froze six pounds of rhubarb. I'd been hoping for more rhubarb, but alas, it looks like Sis and I will only be able to make a double batch of rhubarb wine this year. Next summer we'll be able to make more. I've started three more hills of rhubarb that look like they're coming along just fine but they won't start producing until next year.

Not to worry. Sis and I will end up with plenty of 2008 vintage wine this year. We increased the amount of dandelion wine we made this spring. We plan to experiment with a batch of Juneberry Wine....though...it may end up as Blue Juneberry Wine if I can't pick enough Juneberries and have to supplement with blueberries. We're hoping to increase the amount of Prickly Gooseberry Wine we make so I'll have to pick even more of the prickly morsels than I picked last summer. And...then we've got the Currant Wine we'll be making. Sis and I will be keeping busy.

Murphyism of the Day

Main's Law

For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

- Margaret Lee Runbeck