Whirlwind Wednesday.

Which is why it’s already Thursday.

I must say, I have a certain amount of respect for the bloggers out there who can sit down and bang out a blog at the end of the day. If I say “bang out a brilliant blog”, is that too much alliteration? Or maybe just too generous?  Probably both.

By about eight or nine in the evening,  my already mushy brain is just about ready to slide off the table,  so I mostly sit semi-comatose in from of the Tube, until I start to get irritated with either the programming or the commercials,  and then I sit in front of YouTube.

I guess you really can’t say “Tube” any more,  since most TVs these days have nary a tube in them.  We do have a couple old Tubes still in the house,  but they don’t even get turned on anymore.  I’m not about to fork over any dough for additional digital decoders,  just to watch more crud.

 

One of the things I had to get out of the way yesterday,  was to go to Better Bitters at noon time and bottle 30 bottles of Merlot.  I think we’re good now until Christmas.  

I started bottling wine again not long after I made a couple trips to the LCBO when we first came home.  Some of the prices for pretty ordinary wines almost made me poop a little.  “LCBO” stands for “Liqueur Control Board of Ontario” and there’s a Wiki link here, if you’re remotely interested. 

Not sure who came up with this brilliant plan for a monopoly of wine and spirits in Ontario,  but let’s not get started on my opinion about the LCBO.  We are living in the Victorian age,  after all. 

I think the last time I set foot in the place was to collect up a couple cardboard boxes.  Then I made a hasty retreat.

 

So,  speaking of crud,  when I was within three or four bottles of getting finished,  the vacuum pump stopped doing its thing,  and it was because I had some crud in the bottom of one of the bottles.  Frig!!

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth,  I had been accepting donations of bottles to build up my inventory of empties.  It seems that a dirty one slipped in. 

I’m not overly happy about that,  but I know which case the culprit *might* be in,  which simply means having to decant the offending liquid. 

When I got home I rummaged through the remaining soldiers and got rid of a couple that hadn’t been stored properly.  The thing is,  if you’re going to use a bottle again, it needs to get rinsed and drained right away, otherwise you’re going to get crud.

That’s an actual wine making term,  by the way.

My own damned fault.

Once upon a time,  I used to make wine on the premises,  but I got rid of my primary fermenters and carboys years ago.  I decided I’d take the much more practical and easier route of “renting” the equipment,  and having someone else do most of the work.  So although it’s “home made”,  I don’t do much more than put it in bottles.  Preferably clean ones.

The whole process elevates the price of a bottle of wine from around three bucks to roughly six,  but I can live with that.

 

With yesterday being the second day of school in these parts,  there were a certain number of the constabulary out in the School Zones.  I passed by this place twice in the afternoon,  and that cop had someone pulled over each time. 

Doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.  It’s 40 kph in a school zone,  and that’s about 25 mph.  I realize it’s not that easy to go that slow,  but that’s just too bad. 

Look at the sign,  then look at your speedometer.  Try to make the two numbers match.  It’s simple, really.

One of my bigger challenges is to not lower the window on the way by,  and jeer at the recipient of the ticket.  That might be going a little too far, don’t you think?

 

I also realize that at this point in my life,  I’m probably considered a “white top”,  since I do tend to stick to the speed limit,  and I’ve had many an impatient young buck hovering behind the ass end of the car.   Too bad. 

What I’d really like,  is a little sign that says, “If you’re close enough to read this,  your insurance rates are higher than mine,  now PISS OFF!” 

 

It so happens that when you’re running the roads as much as I was yesterday,  you do tend to see a few things worthy of a picture, even though the quality might be less than ideal.

Every Wednesday afternoon some time after about four p.m., a couple hundred vintage car enthusiasts have a “Show and Shine”  at the plaza a couple blocks from our place. 

I know the second one there is a Cadillac (duh!),  but I’m unsure about the one in front.  I’m open to suggestions.

And that’s because I really don’t want to take the time to search the web trying to find a matching image,  since I really need to get my hind end in gear and try and finish up a couple projects this morning. 

 

So, I’m outta here.

Have a fine day.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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