When the weekend started off, we were hoping to be able to do a Special Report on the Sonoita Vineyards, as we had tickets to attend the 2017 HarvestFest. We did attend and had a really lovely day to visit. We were able to get a quick lecture on the wine-making process, taste some great, good, and ok wines (by our palates), and enjoy some delicious food pairings; however, when it came time to tour the actual Vineyard, we were unable to do so because of the hard rains they had been receiving the previous days. We were told that it would be very difficult for a tractor alone, at this point, to get up through the vines due to all the wash outs, let alone one pulling a trailer with people in it. So, we’ve resolved to go another time and see if we can’t get a tour – perhaps on foot. Then we’ll be able to do a much more in depth report on vineyards in the high dessert. Let’s go on to other weekend happenings then….
Except for our little excursion to Sonoita, it was a relatively quiet weekend. By the time we came home on Saturday, we were rushing around to do things before the rains hit. And hit they did! We had completed all outdoor chores, I was working on feeding the dogs, when the sky simply opened up and dumped. No real warning; no thunder for a change. It was an amazing storm. Then it stopped just as quickly; as though someone decided to turn off the tap. The weather never ceases to entertain and delight.
I think that one of the most interesting things to happen over the weekend was that we realized one of our duck hens has started laying! I had told Sue to watch out for green duck eggs – as that was what I was familiar with – but it turns out that Harlequin Ducks lay a mottled beige-ish egg. In this photo on the right, the four on top are the duck eggs. These are the first four eggs she has laid and they are already as big, or bigger, than the chicken eggs. (We don’t, in general, wash our eggs until we’re going to use them, so what you can see glistening here is just a quick rinsing off of the stuck on hay for this particular photo.) Our hen has been laying one egg a day, usually in the morning. We’re hoping that her work ethic will soon transfer to our other two hens. Maybe one day soon we’ll be offering that duck egg linguine for sale!
We have one dear little Delaware who has injured herself. We’re really not sure how this is happening, but it’s very similar to the injury sustained by Big Buff. She was getting better, but then, just Sunday morning, it looked like she had taken a step backwards again. We watched some different videos on bracing the leg for this type of injury and decided to try to give it a go. She was a very good patient and let us try several different things, but when we would place her back into the recuperating coup (aka: the small kennel), she just wasn’t able to move around very well, and we didn’t want her to injure herself further. What we decided to do is not try to brace it, but keep her separated for a while and see if just being quiet and less mobile would speed up her healing process. So far she is coping well, and we’ll just have to see how it goes with the healing.
Today, Sue asked Mr. Jaxel to come over and help her take the back hoe off of the tractor and put the mower deck back on. We are so thankful to have made his acquaintance; he is such a wealth of knowledge and experience and he is so very sweet to share it with us! The rains have just energized the grass in the fields and, I swear, it grows a foot a day! When I came home, this is what I saw from the back porch. This is probably where I’ll be finding her most every day when I get off work on time- depending on the weather, of course!
One of the goals we have this week is to go up to Our Lady of the Sierras Shrine and take some good aerial photos of the property. We’ll try to do this on an annual basis, so that we can compare them over time. This photo was taken from the Shrine, looking down on to the property on June 30, 2016. It falls within the yellow circle… guess I probably didn’t need to say that, but there you are. I believe this is the day that Sue made the offer to purchase the property. I think I’ll take my DSLR with the telephoto lens and the tripod when we go. We’ll try to get some good photos for this year, rather than just the camera phone. We’ll be sure to share them with you here. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!
Today’s Weather: It was a warm 98° when I first came home today. But the clouds came over quite quickly and its now a nice 77° at 6pm. Tomorrow, looks like we’re in for another good rain. Nothing so far today.
Egg Report: Saturday we had 10, 11 yesterday, then 12 today. We still haven’t found where Maeve is hiding hers. It could be that she’s taking a break.
Wing and a Prayer 