Sunday, September 27, 2009

Its time for autumn wine making





Its that time of year, when the summer is over the and grapes are ripe, and ready for harvest.  Actually these we purchased from California - but its their harvest time too.

We purchased enough grapes for about 150 bottles of wine.  That should make holiday gift giving easier.

Bonnie's little Element handled much of it, but there were also two pick-up truck loads as we were working with some friends on their wine as well.

It was a messy job.  Picking through the boxes for moldy grapes, leaves, and foreign objects was a big job.

Wayne has a nice Crusher that breaks the grapes and pulls out a lot of the stems.  But one still needs to sort and pick out what gets through.

We also did some white wine grapes, where we only press the grapes and save the juice.

For red wine, it must sit in its skin to get the color and aroma of the more complex red wine.

It took all day and into the evening to get it all done.


But in the end we had a lot of juice starting the fermenting process.

Ours this year are Chenin Blanc, Ginot Grigio,Chardonnay, Old Vine Zinfandel, and Cabernet.

Let's home its a good year! 

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sailing and Shooting

SRYC put together a Guy's trip.  There was a lot planned, but weather and a long time at the skeet range limited the activities.  We did get a good sail, lots of sporting clay shooting, and a belly full of crabs.  It was a lot of fun.  Tyler and Diogo came with me on the trip. 
I didn't shoot as well as I would have liked to.  It had been a few years since I shot last.  The mosquitoes were pretty heavy while shooting.

I found a leak in the hot water hose off of the water heater.  That explained some of the water.  I also found a good bit in the aft section from rain water.  I think I now have the two main sources of fresh water showing up in the bilge.  Its possible that some comes from the water tank as well, but I wont worry about that until I have the other two fixed.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day Cruise 2009

We made the not too long trek to St. Michael's for the last long weekend of the Summer.
We went with the Severn River Yacht  Club and stayed at the Miles River Yacht Club just outside St. Michael's, Maryland.
28 Boats from 30 to 70 feet came.  Some stayed in slips and others rafted up. The ones anchored out gathered their dinghy's at the floating dock.
  
There were lots of dogs as well.
It made for a great weekend.  The Picasa site with all the photos is located at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SRYCphotos/2009LaborDayCruise#