Tag Archives: Sweet Red (Franzia)

2014/07/02 (W) Trees And Rocks

Steve arrived at 6:45 AM and got right to work using the excavator to place additional large boulders for the rear retaining walls.  He was done by 8:30 AM and loaded the excavator back on his trailer to take to another job site.  I noticed that one of his trailer tires was very under-inflated so I got out my large portable air compressor to inflate it.  This tire turned out to have a puncture in the tread and was not going to hold air.  Steve knew the tires were not in good shape but I discovered that they were not an adequate load range for the weight he was carrying even if they were inflated to their maximum cold pressure, which they were not.  I inflated all of them as high as I was comfortable given their age.  If it had been my trailer I would have taken it, unloaded, immediately to a nearby tire store and had them put on four new tires with an appropriate load range.  I am not a tire expert, but we have been to enough seminars on RV tires and weight safety, that I have a better understanding of the subject then most people.

The excavator working on the rear retaining walls.

The excavator working on the rear retaining walls.

Linda made her yummy vegan pancakes for breakfast after which I decided to trim trees in the southeast corner of the yard.  It was cooler than yesterday but still a bit humid, so the working conditions were not ideal.  I worked until mid-afternoon and got one tree pruned of all its deadwood and took some low dead limbs off of several other trees.  I enjoy the pruning; it requires some thought about ladder placement, choice of tools, and where to cut, and I have a nicer/healthier looking tree when I am done.  Taking the small branches off of the larger limbs, cutting the limbs into shorter lengths, and carting everything to the fire pit; not my favorite thing to do.  Linda assures me that cleanup has never been my forte.

Two landscapers showed up around 10 AM and worked on the retaining walls.  There were supposed to be three of them, but one guy could not make it.  The hand work they were doing really needed three guys, so it was hard for them.  They got to a point where they were waiting on a delivery of sleeved plastic drain tile that wasn’t showing up in a timely fashion so I gave them directions to the Lowe’s at Grand River and Latson Roads where they bought a 100 foot roll and tied it to the roof of their car to get it back to our house.  They were then able to place the landscape fabric behind the first course of boulders, across the bottom of the shelf and up the back, lay the drain tile in the trench, and back fill the trench.  This gave them a place to stand as they worked on the next shelf.

Linda spent the morning cooking a batch of her amazing granola and her equally amazing vegan potato salad.  She boiled and then cubed red potatoes and mixed them with vegan mayo, apple cider vinegar, celery, onion, dill pickle, and dill weed.  We have been having tofu hot dogs for lunch with some regularity as it is an easy, tasty summer treat (with mustard, onions, and relish).  The potato salad was the perfect accompaniment, especially as it was still slightly warm.  Sweet cherries provided the finishing note for a tasty summer lunch.

Steve came back around 3 PM to check on the progress of his crew, gave them some specific goals for the rest of the day, and took off.  The crew was here until 6 PM.  Everyone has been working hard but we are at the stage in the project where there has been a lot more destruction than construction.  We have been through enough construction projects over the years that we know what to expect, but it is still stressful to see everything torn up.

Linda made baked stuffed acorn squash for dinner with a side of grilled baby bok choy.  The stuffing was made from carrots, celery, mushrooms, onions, sun dried tomatoes, bread cubes, raisins, walnuts, flax seeds, and sage.  It reminded me of stuffing from a Thanksgiving holiday meal.  We had a small glass of Franzia Sweet Red wine which paired well with the savory main dish.

 

2014/06/19 (R) Visitors

We got to visit several times with John and Marian Hagan while we were in Florida this past winter.  They were members of our FMCA Freethinkers chapter until they decided to stop full-timing, bought a house in Dunnellon, Florida, put their motorhome up for sale, and did not renew their FMCA membership, which meant they could no longer be members of any FMCA chapters.  But we had established contact with them by the time all of that transpired and as Dunnellon was only 25 miles south of Williston, it was easy to meet up with them, which we did on several occasions.

John has a daughter who lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan and she has twin 4-year olds, so he and Marian had indicated that they would be visiting them sometime in June.  I e-mailed John as soon as we got back from the GLAMARAMA rally to check on their status and found out that they had arrived in Michigan about the time we left for the rally.  They were planning on staying for several more weeks, but we invited them to come to our house for dinner and a visit as soon as mutually possible.  That turned out to be today!

We had cloudy skies leftover from the storms of the day before but no additional rain.  John and Marian arrived mid-afternoon and stayed until almost 9 PM.  We had a good, wide-ranging chat and enjoyed a nice meal of mixed greens salad, lentil loaf, baked potatoes, and roasted asparagus.  We had the Franzia Sweet Red wine with dinner and capped off the meal with fresh strawberries, Lotus Biscoff cookies (the same ones they serve on the airliners), and our Sweet Seattle Dreams 1/2 caff custom coffee blend from Teeko’s in Howell.

Since John and Marian are in the area for an extended period of time, they have been visiting a lot of local attractions, especially things connected with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  We all agreed that we would get together at least one more time while they are here, perhaps meeting them in the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti area and dining at a local restaurant.