We had a busy weekend.
That's the view from the deck at Helwig Vineyards.
On Saturday, we went over to Suzanne's house with the dogs. It was us, Suzanne, Tom, Lauren, Jack (Lauren's boyfriend), and 6 dogs. Brie promptly barfed on Jan's foot because she was so excited. She barfed 3 times in the first 10 minutes and then calmed down enough to not barf. Porter was so scared, he had to be held all the time. I eventually put him in the truck for his and my sakes. Other than Porter, we had a great time.
Sunday was Robin's birthday so Suzanne and Tom rented a limo and took a bunch of us wine tasting. The first stop was the Rombauer tasting room. We found out that the actual vineyards are in Napa and they only have a tasting room in Amador. That's fine, they still had all the wines.
We had snacks and tasted 4 wines. Jan bought 2 bottles of Zinfandel. They had too many bees there, so we left.
Next stop was Helwig Vineyards. They have a better tasting room.
We only liked one of the wines, a red called Round-Up Red. We can sometimes find Helwig wines on the road, but we have never found Round-Up Red, so Jan bought 6 bottles. We have a wine cellar now. We got a 20% discount by joining the Helwig wine club. I have to buy a couple of wines each quarter but they will either ship them or they will hold them until we come pick them up. The shipping option only works when we stay somewhere for a couple of weeks. We will probably just use the hold for pick up options.
The dogs stayed in the trailer and did much better that we anticipated. Porter did not pee and nothing was chewed up. We were sure something would happen because we were gone over 7 hours.
Today, Monday, is a very windy day. I think the gusts are up to 25mph. It keeps shaking the trailer.
Jan's new Keurig machine arrived last week and we picked it up from Suzanne on Saturday. Sunday was too busy to do anything about it so I worked on it today. We intended to put it in the pantry but it doesn't fit when you open the door to put the pod into the machine. The upper cabinets are too low to allow you to open it. Bummer. We had the water lines set up and everything. On to plan B. I installed it in the kitchen. It takes up more space than the last machine, but the water line makes it a lot more convenient than the old one.
I first thought I could come off of the refrigerator water line, but I can't get behind it. The fridge is bolted down and then has some pads that lift the wheels off the ground. I guess it's a good thing that the fridge can't move, but it doesn't help my DIY project. So now, on to Plan C.
I went under the trailer and found the water line that goes to the fridge. I hooked in to that line. No problem, it is 1/4" line, just like dripper lines. I have worked with dripper lines for years and years. I put in a T and ran my new line off of that. Next, I had to drill a hole through the bottom of the trailer. I found a drill bit that is just the same size as the outside of the water line and drilled a hole through the trailer. Fun. I do need to seal that line so air and bugs can't get in. Now comes the fun part. I had to drill a hole in the countertop. I ran to Home Depot and bought a masonry bit and drilled a hole right through the counter. It worked and I didn't break the counter.
I even added a water filter and a valve so I can shut off the water when I need to change the filter.
The Keurig machine works great. You put your pod in and then choose how much water you want and hit Brew. That's it. No more filling up the reservoir or anything. Just add a pod and go. It's a commercial machine so it's built for more use than we will ever use it for. If I wanted to, I could add my own pictures to that screen.
After seeing Suzanne for the first time in a year and a half, we got homesick (that's not really the right word) for Jodi, Shelby and Runa. We booked a flight to The Netherlands. We will fly out of Las Vegas in November and spend a week overseas. We thought that flight prices would be high because we didn't book very far in advance, but they were actually reasonable. We will stay with Jodi and her dogs. Brie and Porter will stay in Las Vegas.
Beer News: My Maple Bourbon Stout is fermenting away. The beer temp is 68º (a little on the cool side). I think this one will have to sit in the bottle for 2 or 3 months to condition some more. When you add bourbon, it has a harsh taste if you drink it too soon. Letting it sit for a long time gives the yeast time to smooth out the taste.
I blogged earlier that my wheat beer didn't carbonate. I put 4 bottles in the 1 gallon growler and forced it with a CO2 cartridge. It worked. It's a good beer. It's is weird, the first taste is too sweet but after that, it's good. I take the first sip real fast and get it over with so the rest of the mug is good. I guess that means that my beer is not good enough to give to other people yet.
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