Today I slept late. Emily is still at the reunion and now will be till Monday. She wants me to drive two hours today to go wine tasting. I would rather stay home. Fours round trip to see the reunion it’s be damned. Not worth it. Not my side of the family. So I’m going.
But first, the big paper. Not much in it. Feature on Healdsburg, where the winery is near. So I am taking that with me to help inform the others of what is available event-wise for the day.
Other than that, and an article on indoor succulents, the paper qualifies as a doorstop. Had breakfast. He coffee. Did the dog and cat thing.
S, shower, no shave. Ready to go. I’m off on the road to the winery. Like Bob Hope.
The drive was two hours which is 30 mins more than usual. Not sure why. Traffic is slow but there is not much traffic. I always had a car in front of me and most of the drive is two lanes so I guess we will go with that.
Arrived at the winery at about 1220. It was hopping. There is some winter event going on and people go between all the wineries and drink. Duh. They have wristbands. All for free. I have a daughter that works here, all free for me. Winner.
I found the fam in the outdoor tent. Beth and Hank, Dee and Aunt JoAnn. Uncle Kenny left for home this morning for some reason. No one was letting on there. They were drinking. Wow have not seen that before. Well not since the last time I saw the fam at least. Or talked on the phone with them with whoever is drunk. They all have a habit. Just very thirsty I think.
So a wine tasting is really nothing more than an excuse to drink. Some people are quite pretentious about it. Wine. Drink it. Get drunk. Questions?
Personally, I am usually not one to pour it down in great quantity. That way I am sober and able to judge others. That makes me happy. I judge myself superior. Most of the time. I hope others do as well. Makes me feel better.
The sad thing about tasting and not drinking much, here at Marikas winery, is all the wine is free. But, that’s also a reason to ease up because getting hammered becomes that much easier when wine is free. Today they are offering free food in small quantities to the paying guests. We get that too. Not so bad. Some French onion soup, and macaroons. We also had some chorizo and nuts. Not so bad. We had brought some of our own snacks. Turns out they don’t like that. Not sure why when the food is free.
We were sitting around sipping and eating for about 2 1/2 hours. Nothing else to do I guess. If I had not gone to wine tasting I think I would have gone to work which was probably a better idea. There is always something to do there, worthwhile or not.
Everyone else left and went back to Bodega. They are going out to dinner in Bodega Bay tonight. I am going to Petaluma and picking up Marikas cat, Vlad. Marika is going to Hawaii tomorrow. So the grandkitty comes to our house.
It’s about 40 minutes to Petaluma from the winery. Drive was alternately raining and not. Fortunately everyone was driving fast as hell so I got there quick.
I got to Marika’s and walked in and the damn cat just showed up and I put him into the crate by the door. Walked the crate to the car, went back and locked the house and left for home. I’m willing to bet I was not there for even a minute.
About another hour to home, mostly uneventful, or so I thought. By this I mean when I got home I grabbed the crate from the passenger seat and took the stupid cat in the house. Let him out. Back to car to unload, and I notice the newspaper that was under the crate has a wet spot. Oh, joy, the little shit pissed in his crate and it leaked through. I hate him.
Spent the next 30 minutes cleaning my car and the crate and anything else damp or smelly. I hate that cat. I am ready to take him home. Cat pee is not ok.
Spent another hour on the phone with Marika. It turns out after we left, she got a little emotional (not because of us) and when she got to her car she completely lost it and was crying uncontrollably. Emily spoke to her. Then Emily called me and I called Marika. It took an easy 15 minutes to talk her calm. Turns out she was upset because she is leaving her job and finding something with more of a future. And leaving means she won’t see her coworkers anymore and it just got to her. I ended up being on the phone with her for an hour. Finally, she decided to go out for a drink and did not take the phone into the bar. The kid can talk.
Now it’s time for dinner. Been looking forward to it. So, what did I do. Fed all the stupid animals. Then my turn. My buddy Jim has given me some buffalo burgers and steak and few days ago. So tonight is the time for a buffalo burger. That’s right, buffalo. It’s really just a leaner form of beef, not exciting. But I got a freezer full so I have been excited to dig in. And the verdict? Tastes just like beef, like I said. Fun to try something different.
Now that all is done I get America’s Funniest Videos. It’s sunday night. After that, more bad TV. My evenings are electric.
I face timed friend Cissie during AFV and into Last Man Standing. We caught up on things and had a nice chat. Her husband is away for a few days as is my wife. So both alone. Need conversation to remember we are alive. We talked about 30 minutes. Then she took her dog out to poop and I went to do dishes.
Time now for bed. I’m tired. Too much driving.