Back again.

No, I haven't forgotten about you. No, I promise...well, things have been busy...wait! Don't leave, they have. I got a second job. Yes, I know you know about it though not the details...yes! yes! I will tell you the details. But first..can you ever forgive me for staying away so long?

The vineyard is the famous Spicewood Vineyards of the Texas Hill Country in Spicewood Texas. It is owned by Ed and Madeline Manigold who are very, very lovely and friendly folks. They bought the land in 1990, planted their first grapes in 1992 and made their first wine harvest in 1995. Their wines, for a burgeoning market in Texas, are very good. All of their wines are made only from the grapes grown on site, meaning they don't import any grapes or juice to make their wines (they are the only vineyard in Texas to be doing that). They have 17 acres of grapes, in lovely soil for the Hill Country. They dug down NINE feet before hitting bedrock. That is unbelievable for the hill country. You see, it used to be an ancient riverbed of the Colorado river, so there is still topsoil from floods, not to mention the fact that the water broke down the underneath limestone and granite. This gives their wines a softer, more vanilla type note. Sometimes it plays out in a more mineral tone.
I work there on Sundays in the wine tasting room, meaning I get to talk to people for almost six hours about wine. Also, I am learning A LOT from Ed and Madeline. They are extremely smart and know their viticulture and oenology.

Also, it must be said that we are going to start looking at moving soon...to Denison which is near Sherman which is near Oklahoma/Tx border. There is a community college there where I can get an associate's of applied science in viticulture and oenology. But there are several things we must do here first: see if we need to sell now and if so, that is a whole new set of "things to do"; visit Denison and find Chris a teaching job, and move. THe house part, obviously, is the biggest part. Do we rent it out or do we sell? Would it be worth it to wait to sell?

Those questions bug me. Got a crystal ball I can use?

Other than that, I am still working 40 hours a week on the Front End (now called Guest Services team) and Chris is working 40 hours in the Meat Department. We just bough a new bed and mattress and hopefully, my back will start feeling more like a 26 year old's back as opposed to a 36 yr old's back.

Still haven't been that committed to working out although it is getting there.

My garden is going crazy. I mean, really. The beans are climbing all over each other, the squash is going every which direction, the tomatoes I can't keep up with...I love it.

Bye!