I declare that Christmas has started… We received our first mail order catalog…
And the winner is… The National Geographic Holiday 2009 Catalog…
Holiday – Christmas it’s that correct word thing again…
Of course, we are planning Christmas at work… we have been planning Christmas since last December… but now its imminent…
The wine is doing well… I punch down the head a couple of times a day….
Ken Burns National Parks show is on the glowing box… I hated the first episode… too preachy, not on subject, used “cathedral” 4 times in two minutes… The second was better, much better, and the third is Ken Burns at his best…
In a related note, I get to be John Muir on Sunday… A local railroad museum has a car that Taft rode on when he visited Yosemite in October 1909. We are recreating his train… steam engine, postal car, and the Presidential car… a Taft impersonator… We need a John Muir, he was there… I have a beard, I have a felt hat, I have appropriate Victorian clothing… I am trying to acquire a Scottish accent… I need to drink more scotch…
Christmas will be long, it’s a season after-all… as Loughton Wainwright said, “its not over until its over and you throw away the tree” Tree disposal will have to wait until January.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
It's wine making time…
Some years ago I planted grapes across the back (west facing) side of the house on an arbor… the plan was greenery which shades the house in summer but loose all leaves in winter allowing the sun in… a passive aggressive approach to heat management and solar heat…
Of course grape vines also bear grapes…
Being a Californian, I planted Zinfandel… They should be a good choice for our climate… of course they make good red wine…
This year they bore fruit (last year they didn’t) … lots of fruit… tons of fruit... (well, not tons, but hundreds of lbs of fruit…)
Our local raccoons have found the fruit… and have for weeks been feasting on grapes… at first it was cute… but 4, yes, 4 raccoons can make a mess… 4 cute little raccoons silhouetted against the moon late at night while they strip grapes off the vines…
The grapes had been ripening at different rates… some green, some purple… but now, with a heat wave, all are ripening and even over ripening… So today I started to harvest… I have plastic bins… each holds about 70 lbs of grapes… I harvested a vine an a half of four, and filled two… I topped each with 5 lbs of dry ice to build up a CO2 head to prevent aerobic fermentation.
I have to fine a brew store open tomorrow to find a source of yeast and yeast nutrients. Then harvest another 300 lbs of grapes, and clean and crush them… It’s a project… Calculations suggest this will result in about 14 cases of wine… They should produce a “Primitivo” red.
Somehow it is appropriate that September and October should be harvest, and wine making season… We city/suburban folk in the land of sun and little rain forget what seasons mean… I hope I don’t.
Of course grape vines also bear grapes…
Being a Californian, I planted Zinfandel… They should be a good choice for our climate… of course they make good red wine…
This year they bore fruit (last year they didn’t) … lots of fruit… tons of fruit... (well, not tons, but hundreds of lbs of fruit…)
Our local raccoons have found the fruit… and have for weeks been feasting on grapes… at first it was cute… but 4, yes, 4 raccoons can make a mess… 4 cute little raccoons silhouetted against the moon late at night while they strip grapes off the vines…
The grapes had been ripening at different rates… some green, some purple… but now, with a heat wave, all are ripening and even over ripening… So today I started to harvest… I have plastic bins… each holds about 70 lbs of grapes… I harvested a vine an a half of four, and filled two… I topped each with 5 lbs of dry ice to build up a CO2 head to prevent aerobic fermentation.
I have to fine a brew store open tomorrow to find a source of yeast and yeast nutrients. Then harvest another 300 lbs of grapes, and clean and crush them… It’s a project… Calculations suggest this will result in about 14 cases of wine… They should produce a “Primitivo” red.
Somehow it is appropriate that September and October should be harvest, and wine making season… We city/suburban folk in the land of sun and little rain forget what seasons mean… I hope I don’t.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Black Helicopters, a strange week and other issues….
So, a crazy week at the farm (aka work) What’s New…?
Monday we had our Quarterly Marketing meeting….
Tuesday I took the day off and fled to Sacramento…
Wednesday, reserved tours… continuing to clean up after the camps… and trying to finish up my goals statement from last year… long hanging, very late, there are good reasons, but the time of reckoning is here… (not an issue, I have done well but not always followed the goals from so long ago…)
Thursday, we had phone calls, issues, problems, emergency problems, and things were just weird…
There is a missing child in the vicinity… a foster child, who reportedly disappeared in Oakland. The foster parents live within 300 feet of the park… they are suspects in the disappearance… (Disclaimer, the above from news reports… which are full of speculation and rumor…) We had helicopters circling the park back in August… a result of this case.
A Citizens group wants to search the property Saturday… they are not associated with the police investigation… They have searched other city sites… and were well organized and well disciplined… But they are not officially sanctioned… The first notice of their proposed actions are from a rec. employee who read a news report… I hate to the last to know… To make it worse, the park is not really staffed, one employee on vacation, on at a funeral, on at a management meeting, out of the park… the remaining employees dealing with rumor…
We have a school group coming tomorrow, but they don’t have house tours but have been told they have (or not) and of course, no one is home at the park who knows what has been offered, promised or…. We end up creating a new tour plan and sending memos out to everyone…
Then one of the farmer’s guys hits the railroad’s electric service with a tractor, and now a 440 3 phase panel is sitting in a heap on the ground… hot, popping and hissing… with burn wires visible… and no one in charge… Park calls PG&E… they tell us it is a park problem… no on does anything… I use caution tape and tape the site off… I am not comfortable with the response…
We plan for the citizen’s search… We are lost in the woods… The Arden woods… Finally I leave, not knowing what will happen Friday or Saturday… Have I told you I love my job???
Friday… finally someone has a plan… The Park police are canceling the search… Not comfortable with the plan… we are comfortable with the decision (particularly since it is someone else’s) We discuss the electricity issue… Park will inspect next week, we express concerns… Park staff are not aware of our concerns… they make calls…
We give the tours.. the kids are good… the tours are good…
But… there are black helicopters circling the farm… they appear to be Blackhawks… I don’t know why they are circling… they are circling low… Somehow it seems appropriate to all going on…
Park maintenance staff arrives to look at the damage to the electrical system. They have concerns… they react… we support the reaction… (the railroad has tools need by park staff) and by the end of the day the electrical system is cut off, and there are plans to fix it… Next week, good plans…
Now, its time to get ready for tomorrows’ Patterson House Foundation event, a Chile cook off and Hoedown…
Home (via the local Mexican market) to cook to chilies… One red with beans, the other green with pork… It’s 10:00 pm and the chilies are in the frig… I am tired… what’s new.
The picture is from Labor Day weekend... a night photo, two locomotives and the three men who own them... I like it...
Bye, Randy
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Ren Fair in the Rain
Its Ren Fair at Ardenwood (Renaissance Faire for those who have not experienced the event…) We will have Ren Fair tomorrow as well…
We have Knights, a Queen, peasants, jousters, and vendors… a grand and gay crowd has invaded the farm.
They are celebrating Queen Elizabeth, but we at Patterson House are a Queen Anne…. (bad joke) In a sea of guests in Elizabethan wear, I am dressed as a Victorian... One of us has an allegiance to the wrong English Queen...
The guests are not here for our historic house… they are here for the Faire, the food, the Joust… we get few visitors… not a bad thing… The guests who visit are really into visiting a historic house. Making things better, we have several new volunteers starting… one a high school student, (a second working his 2nd day) the other 11 years old, apparently a Victorian by birth…
The Ren Faire folks have taken over the farm… they are doing the parking, they are doing security… they don’t always recognize that we have farm and house volunteers… and so try to prevent them from joining the event… We are dealing with the issue. This morning I had to tell no less than 6 of their volunteers that I was park staff while driving in… They were polite, but were uninformed… Yes, some people work here…. Tomorrow don’t be surprised… (but they will, I have faith)
To make it weirder we are experiencing a thunder storm… Thunder and lighting and really big raindrops… This is not typical northern California weather… but it is here. At least it is cooler.
So, Brian (aka the son) is now in Jacksonville Florida, in SAR swimmer school… We are proud… Its pretty cool to say you son is a Navy SAR swimmer. The daughter is in Maryland living with her cousin’s wife, and caring for her cousin’s kids and going to the local JC…. (He is in Iraq… in command of a company of Apache Helicopters,. She is a former Army Apache pilot, a West Point Grad… we are proud of both Kellie and Fred, both heros…)
We are going to Maryland for Thanksgiving…. It’s a transcontinental holiday. I plan to visit the Smithsonian History Museum Archives… They have the Jackson and Sharp order books… I may go the Library of Congress… I have a card… Our daughter is trying to arrange a tour of the White House… It will be a good trip.
We have Knights, a Queen, peasants, jousters, and vendors… a grand and gay crowd has invaded the farm.
They are celebrating Queen Elizabeth, but we at Patterson House are a Queen Anne…. (bad joke) In a sea of guests in Elizabethan wear, I am dressed as a Victorian... One of us has an allegiance to the wrong English Queen...
The guests are not here for our historic house… they are here for the Faire, the food, the Joust… we get few visitors… not a bad thing… The guests who visit are really into visiting a historic house. Making things better, we have several new volunteers starting… one a high school student, (a second working his 2nd day) the other 11 years old, apparently a Victorian by birth…
The Ren Faire folks have taken over the farm… they are doing the parking, they are doing security… they don’t always recognize that we have farm and house volunteers… and so try to prevent them from joining the event… We are dealing with the issue. This morning I had to tell no less than 6 of their volunteers that I was park staff while driving in… They were polite, but were uninformed… Yes, some people work here…. Tomorrow don’t be surprised… (but they will, I have faith)
To make it weirder we are experiencing a thunder storm… Thunder and lighting and really big raindrops… This is not typical northern California weather… but it is here. At least it is cooler.
So, Brian (aka the son) is now in Jacksonville Florida, in SAR swimmer school… We are proud… Its pretty cool to say you son is a Navy SAR swimmer. The daughter is in Maryland living with her cousin’s wife, and caring for her cousin’s kids and going to the local JC…. (He is in Iraq… in command of a company of Apache Helicopters,. She is a former Army Apache pilot, a West Point Grad… we are proud of both Kellie and Fred, both heros…)
We are going to Maryland for Thanksgiving…. It’s a transcontinental holiday. I plan to visit the Smithsonian History Museum Archives… They have the Jackson and Sharp order books… I may go the Library of Congress… I have a card… Our daughter is trying to arrange a tour of the White House… It will be a good trip.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
United Breaks Guitars
Those of you who regularly read this blog (both of you, ok, maybe the three of you) know that I am sometimes critical of passenger airlines and their customer service… as noted before they are low lying fruit and an easy target.
So, I was surprised, and greatly amused to find a song, no, two songs, with promise of a third… chronicling one musician’s experience (not good) with United Airlines and its baggage handling, which resulted in a busted guitar, and the resulting claims procedures.
Accepting the information our singer (Dave Carroll, of Sons of Maxwell, sonsofmaxwell.com) has provided at face value (why not, it reflects personal experience, although, I have never lost a guitar to the baggage monkeys), United was bad, United didn’t care… and now he has posted a statement on YouTube about the guitar that has been viewed 347,932 times along with the first song (viewed 5,435,364 times) and the second song (334,609 views)… So he has reached something over 5 million people with his story… United, are you listening… I guess not. At least UAL is consistent.
A few lines from the song
United, United
You broke my Taylor guitar
United, United
Some big help you are
You broke it, you should fix it
You're liable just admit it
I should have flown with someone else or gone by car
'Cause United breaks guitars
You to can view the videos and hear the songs. I recommend it.
Song number one… United Breaks Guitars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&feature=channel
And of course the second song, United Breaks Guitars, two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg&feature=channel
Apparently United has since offered compensation… Dave seems amused… but is not taking them up on it…
Dave’s statement…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_X-Qoh__mw#
Of course, now others are piling on making the whole thing worse…
CNN and CBS have both reported on the story…
A parody response from United (no, not really from United Air lines…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhuI3NxwI8c
Now Taylor Guitars has posted their response to the issue… a bit tongue in cheek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12WFZq2__0
Of course, the top ad on the side bar when watching the CNN interview is Low Fares on United Airlines…. We pay for ads, but we don’t pay for broke guitars….
I think I will fly Virgin America… as far as I can tell they don’t break guitars… and they treat me well… every time… without my having to resort to YouTube… I like their safety video, I like the mood lighting… they have fresh flowers at the check in counter… Even when I am running late, out of breath, nearly late for my flight, they stay calm, and treat me well… I love Virgin America.
And the standard disclaimer… My wife works for Google. Google owns YouTube…
So, I was surprised, and greatly amused to find a song, no, two songs, with promise of a third… chronicling one musician’s experience (not good) with United Airlines and its baggage handling, which resulted in a busted guitar, and the resulting claims procedures.
Accepting the information our singer (Dave Carroll, of Sons of Maxwell, sonsofmaxwell.com) has provided at face value (why not, it reflects personal experience, although, I have never lost a guitar to the baggage monkeys), United was bad, United didn’t care… and now he has posted a statement on YouTube about the guitar that has been viewed 347,932 times along with the first song (viewed 5,435,364 times) and the second song (334,609 views)… So he has reached something over 5 million people with his story… United, are you listening… I guess not. At least UAL is consistent.
A few lines from the song
United, United
You broke my Taylor guitar
United, United
Some big help you are
You broke it, you should fix it
You're liable just admit it
I should have flown with someone else or gone by car
'Cause United breaks guitars
You to can view the videos and hear the songs. I recommend it.
Song number one… United Breaks Guitars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&feature=channel
And of course the second song, United Breaks Guitars, two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg&feature=channel
Apparently United has since offered compensation… Dave seems amused… but is not taking them up on it…
Dave’s statement…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_X-Qoh__mw#
Of course, now others are piling on making the whole thing worse…
CNN and CBS have both reported on the story…
A parody response from United (no, not really from United Air lines…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhuI3NxwI8c
Now Taylor Guitars has posted their response to the issue… a bit tongue in cheek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12WFZq2__0
Of course, the top ad on the side bar when watching the CNN interview is Low Fares on United Airlines…. We pay for ads, but we don’t pay for broke guitars….
I think I will fly Virgin America… as far as I can tell they don’t break guitars… and they treat me well… every time… without my having to resort to YouTube… I like their safety video, I like the mood lighting… they have fresh flowers at the check in counter… Even when I am running late, out of breath, nearly late for my flight, they stay calm, and treat me well… I love Virgin America.
And the standard disclaimer… My wife works for Google. Google owns YouTube…
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