Monday, September 29, 2008
I Love Wine
The brochure says "Nestled in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania are nine family-owned wineries of the Lehigh Valley. The fertile farmlands, rich in shale and limestone and favored with a moderate climate, provide an ideal growing environment for vineyards of both traditional Vinifera wine grapes and Native American grapes."
And with that, we began our journey. Of course, we couldn't visit all nine wineries but we did manage to pay our respects to three of them, all within relatively close proximity to our house.
This is the first one we visited, Pinnacle Ridge. They produce some of the most awarded wines in our state.
And this was the "host" for the day at Pinnacle Ridge. He fed us well. Pulled pork is one of my favorite things to eat. I had mine plain in a dish and my husband had his on a bun. They also offered it with BBQ sauce. There were two of these guys just waiting to be devoured by the visiting public. This guy was waiting his turn.
The next place we visited was Clover Hill. It is one of the state's largest producers of premium Pennsylvania wines.
The last place we visited was Vyncrest Winery. It is my favorite place to go because we know the owners. Two years ago I was given my choice of any bottle of wine on the premises. This time we purchased another variety. By the way, my husband doesn't drink alcoholic beverages. Neither do I, except for wine, of course. Any wine. I'm not choosy when it comes to wine. Growing up in New York as I did, my aunt and uncle had wine on the table at every evening meal. I developed an appreciation for it. I don't remember the name of the grapes in this picture, but they look good, don't they? In a few weeks we will go back out for the harvest.
This is a photo of the one band that was at the first place we went. (The photo is a bit blurry, sorry.) Blues Factor is their name. There are more members of the group, but these two guys were the only ones playing at the time. Later another group, Bluestone, played. The music was fantastic, loud, and I loved it.
We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to go back for Chambourcin Weekend in about three weeks. Chambourcin is the official wine grape of the Lehigh Valley. It is the only wine made by all nine of the member wineries. I think I'll buy some more wine.
posted by Cheyenne at 12:05 AM comment(s) made:
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Confession Time
Last year I said I would never ever step foot into a Lowe's store.
Please forgive me for I have broken my solemn promise.
Circumstances changed since then. It seems it is not all that bad anymore, now that Jimmie Johnson is Dale Jr's teammate.
And...not only have I stepped foot into a Lowe's once, I have done so twice! How do you like them apples? The first time I went, it was just to look around. I was being nosey, if you will. A week later I went back to purchase shower doors after doing some homework on them.
I'm not ashamed either. I was always a Home Depot person wholly due to Tony Stewart, but they are now embracing that long-necked giraffe...er, kid named Joey Logano. Sorry, but he does have a long neck. Needless to say, I am not a Logano fan, I have long since stopped liking anyone who drives for Gibbs Racing, so it wasn't all that difficult to switch from Home Depot to Lowe's. Quite painless I might add.
Speaking of Tony...does anyone really think he will win a race driving for Gibbs this year? I don't. I honestly think he has been kicked to the curb. He is being treated the same way Dale Jr. was by DEI when he announced he was leaving them. Some owners have no couth.
posted by Cheyenne at 12:28 AM comment(s) made:
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Happy Birthday To Me
...and my husband's birthday is September 25th, two days later. We share a lot of things.
posted by Cheyenne at 12:05 AM comment(s) made:
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Sunday, September 21, 2008
HA HA HA HA HA And Double HA
The only good thing about the Sprint Cup race in Dover DE today where Dale Jr. had to drive the car from hell and finished 24th dropping to 9th in the points, is the fact that Kyle Busch finished 43rd (dead last) and dropped to 12th (dead last) in the points. He may have won eight races prior to the Chase and started the Chase at the top of the heap 80 points ahead of everyone else, but...look.where.he.is.now! In the dumper.
Yee Haw!
I have my doubts that Junior will win the Championship this year, although he is fully capable of it, but there are just too many stronger teams right now. However, they may fade too. You never know. So I'm not exactly giving up on Junior. I do think, though, that it's fairly safe to say Kyle Busch won't win the championship and that makes me quite happy.
Dale Jr. is only 47 points out of 4th place and a lot can happen with eight races to go so, yeah, I'm still behind him 100%.
posted by Cheyenne at 7:16 PM comment(s) made:
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Proverbs 19:9
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.
posted by Cheyenne at 1:47 AM comment(s) made:
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Thursday, September 18, 2008
Very Strange Indeed
These photos could have been better (lighter). After I took them I realized I had the camera on the wrong setting. But you can get the general idea from these. We drove by this new building recently but at that time I didn't have my camera with me. The next time we were in the general area, we stopped so I could snap these.
This building, whatever it is, remains a mystery to us yet. I have done research on it and I have also done the satellite view of it. The house is on the satellite view, this building is not, so I am thinking it is rather new construction as it is not yet on the assessment roster. And I don't believe it is finished yet. There is a house near it nestled in the trees that are behind this building. I tracked down the address of the house and it is owned by a CEO of a local business. Funny thing is, the house only has one bedroom and one bath with a few other rooms sprinkled about. Certainly not a house for a family.
Now this larger building, which is full of angles and dormers, could probably house a couple families. What you see is just the front (or maybe the back). It is formed in a sort of a horseshoe shape and you don't see most of it. Also, I wasn't this close. By cropping a lot of the edges off, it brought it closer.
You can't get to it from where these were taken either. There is only one entrance and that is way on the other side which leads up to the house. In other words, standing on the street looking north, you would drive up a small dirt road (north) and the house is first in line. This strange whatever-it-is-building then would be next still going north. Behind it, as you can see, is a huge expanse of grass. Acres and acres of it.
After I did as much as I could, I forgot about it and moved on to something else. The other day I was thinking about it again and decided to write about it. I have proved absolutely nothing, other than to satisfy my own curiosity ~ which gets me into a lot of trouble now and then. But, hell, isn't that what life is all about? Nothing ventured, nothing gained?
posted by Cheyenne at 12:05 AM comment(s) made:
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Monday, September 15, 2008
Ha! Told Ya So
Sorry, this is not a victory spin. Nope...it's a loser spin. Kyle Busch was all over the ractrack today like a monkey on a unicycle. And since I don't read much about him, the only thing I did read was it was caused by a broken part to his swaybar. And boy, did he sway...all over the place. It was very hard for me not to laugh because I'm afraid it could happen to my driver. I wish you could have seen me once the race was over though.
So he finished 34th. He lucked out there because there were more wrecks after his. He went from first in the Chase points to eighth. That's 1 to 8, just like his number 18. Karma. You can't escape it.
The girly boy ran from his car to his hauler as soon as the race was over so he wouldn't have to talk to the media. What a wuss.
*******************************
Congratulations to Dale Jr. on finishing fifth and remaining fourth in the points.
posted by Cheyenne at 12:11 AM comment(s) made:
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Sunday, September 14, 2008
Psalms 37:16-17
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
posted by Cheyenne at 1:14 AM comment(s) made:
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
The Chase Is On
This is how they will line up, points-wise:
1. Kyle Busch - 5080
2. Carl Edwards - 5050
3. Jimmie Johnson - 5040
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr - 5010
6. Clint Bowyer - 5010
7. Denny Hamlin - 5010
8. Tony Stewart - 5000
9. Greg Biffle - 5000
10. Jeff Gordon - 5000
11. Kevin Harvick - 5000
12. Matt Kenseth - 5000
It's anybody's championship - and not just a three-man deal. Most everyone is concentrating on the first three and not even giving the other nine a chance, like they don't even exist. And to that I ask, Why? What do you know that we don't know? Are you so sure that one of those first three will continue to be the cream of the crop? When you have an answer, let me know, 'k?
posted by Cheyenne at 12:18 AM comment(s) made:
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Meet Max
Is this not just one adorable bunny? No, he's not mine. He belongs to a friend. Max came to my friend's house all by himself. He just showed up one day. Actually he escaped from a bunny farm. All the others that got loose were caught, but not little Max. Nope...he knew where he wanted to go and who he wanted to be with.
But life didn't come easy for little Max at his new home away from home. He is about five months old, and recently he came in contact with a nasty bacteria and ended up in the hospital. This was devastating news for me as I will stake my life on an animal before a human. I know that's weird, but it's just the way I am.
The good news is he left the hospital a week ago Wednesday evening and is now home where he belongs. I wish Max many many years with his new family.
posted by Cheyenne at 12:31 AM comment(s) made:
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Sunday, September 07, 2008
Atta Boy Junior!
...today Dale Jr. finally sprouted a pair and took care of business.
posted by Cheyenne at 11:35 PM comment(s) made:
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Luke 9:11
And the people, when they knew it, followed him; and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
posted by Cheyenne at 12:45 AM comment(s) made:
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Friday, September 05, 2008
Batten Down The Hatches, Here Comes Hanna!
It's not raining or windy yet but she's coming. Hurricane Hanna or Tropical Storm Hanna, whatever the bitch is called, will be knocking on our door soon enough. And she's bringing all kinds of crap with her. Somewhere near midnight tonight is when she is supposed to cruise on through.I'd just as soon she pick up her skirts and march her ass right over this area and leave us alone, but it doesn't happen that way in an imperfect world.
She has already messed up the NASCAR schedule by wiping out qualifications for both the Nationwide and the Cup races. As a result, the Nationwide race scheduled for tonight will now be run on Sunday at 6:30 PM, I believe. And the Cup race scheduled for Saturday night will be run at 1 PM on Sunday also.
Drivers in both races will be lined up by owners points, putting that Logano kid on the pole for the Nationwide race. How bad is that. Junior's driver, Brad Keselowski, will start third, I think. And on the Cup side, Junior will start fourth.
I would have rather seen qualifications take place but like I said, it's not a perfect world. Maybe this will be for the better since Junior sucks at getting good qualifying spots.
Saturday will not be a pretty day around these parts. They are forecasting high winds and up to 7 inches of rain, if not more, because we are in a valley and we are prone to more rain. Sucks to be us. I guess you can tell by my language that I am not happy about this weather. Especially when it plays havoc with NASCAR.
To make matters worse, we have satellite TV so if the clouds are thick we won't be viewing much TV either on Saturday. And we have free HBO and Cinemax this weekend. It figures.
But come Sunday, it is supposed to be sunny and Hanna will be screwing with other peoples' lives. And I will say good riddance, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
posted by Cheyenne at 9:02 PM comment(s) made:
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Monday, September 01, 2008
Summer's Over
When my first flower bloomed at the beginning of the season, I was so excited that I had to take a picture of it. Yes, I am weird that way. I was the same way with my kid when she was small. I think I have a picture of her in every new outfit she ever wore.
I planted bulbs for the first time in a long time in the Fall of 2006. I got absolutely no flowers on any of them the following Spring. That was a bit devastating since I had hoped at least one of them would spring forth with a flower. No dice. So I had to be patient and wait until this year. This particular plant is a Stella D'Orio...a plant I have admired for years but never planted due to lack of space. Back in 2006 I bought a bunch of bulbs including day lilies and irises. I made room by clearing out a patch of ground alongside our garage.
The picture above is from the kidney-shaped area in the front of the house where we have the light pole, a dogwood tree and a rose bush. My husband said he had plans for that area, so I just never thought of it as a place to put my bulbs. After many years of waiting for his so-called plans, I finally decided to take over the area and that is where I planted. And that's the end of that discussion.
But getting back to the title of this post...I never look forward to Labor Day. Ever since I was a kid in school, Labor Day meant the end of summer and also the end of fun. We had long summers back when I was in school. At least three and a half months long. And they seemed to last longer than that because when you're a kid time does stand still. Not so today...you blink and there goes three months shot to hell.
I can't exactly say I accomplished much this summer either. Sometimes it was just too hot to go outside. As long as I kept the cats outside happy, that was all that mattered. We welcomed new kittens in May and I think every one of the older females had a litter, but not all of them survived. And I suppose there were litters we never knew about and they didn't survive. We can now account for four kittens that made it through the summer. Up to a week ago there were five, but one has gone missing. They do that sometimes and then show up later. I think they like to drive me nuts wondering what happened to them.
So, yes, summer is over and now we turn our thoughts to cooler weather, new shows on TV, things that are only open weekends and no longer during the week, and my most unfavorite thing: Winter.
And not to forget my favorite subject of all, NASCAR. There is one more race to go (Richmond) before the Chase starts. There is one thing I am looking forward to as far as the Chase goes and that is hopefully one of the drivers will take it upon himself to knock the you-know-what out of Kyle Busch for being such a snot nose all season long. Now that the Chase is getting closer and a lot of the other drivers have mentioned they owe Kyle one or two paybacks, Kyle is having second thoughts. NOW he is wanting to make friends with them. Too bad, so sad. Also, too late. I can't wait till he gets the snot knocked out of him and he is finally put in his place during the Chase. And maybe next year he will be likeable ~ just like his brother is now. Ya think?
posted by Cheyenne at 12:05 AM comment(s) made:
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