Sharing What We Love To Do
Crafted July 17th, Racked July 31st, Filtered & Bottled August 26th
Next up… White Wine!! Again from a kit, this time we made Pinot Grigio! Can you figure out the name????
Hail!! When we crafted it, and when we racked it!!! 😆
Here we’ve racked it, and have just added the stabilizing and clearing packets…
All bottled up!
And stored in the basement…
The garden may have been flattened, but the wine is wonderful!! 13.1% ABV, 20 L; and tastes great!! Another “Do-Again”!!!!
Crafted June 8th, Racked June 21st, Filtered & Bottled July 31st
Next we made our first wine… from a kit… a cabernet sauvignon. And, as June and July were, it rained the days we crafted, racked AND bottled!!! And thus, another name was born!! 😆
The Must, complete with grape skins & oak chips, fermenting away…
A beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon!
Bottled…
And labelled…
And stored in the basement!
And the final result? As Barb & Gregor say, “it’s not plonk!”
12.7% ABV, 21 L; and in a blind taste test, it was equal or better than the cab sauv we usually buy! It’s a “Do-Again”!!!! 🍷🍷
Crafted May 4th, Racked June 3rd, Filtered & Bottled July 31st
Our first batch of ‘Fermented Drinkage’! We chose to make Mead, fermented with mint. I found some gorgeous fresh mint, put it in the fridge and… oh my gosh… it limped out on us!
And, thus a name was born!! 😃
We grabbed some local honey…
We mixed up the Must (using a recipe we found online), parked it in the basement, and took the first Specific Gravity reading…
Fermenting away…
Racked for aging and clearing… with “Skinny” guarding it! 😂
Filtered nectar!
Ready for bottling…
Clear, beautiful Mead!
30 x 750 ml bottles!
And, there’s even some left in mid-September!!
And the final result???? Absolutely fabulous!! About 12.8% ABV, wonderful mead taste; Brian loves it straight, on the rocks; I love it as a Meadjito — more mint, lime juice and soda water added in!!
Sadie is at “Camp Redtail Rise” while Mel & Tyler are on vacation. Normally she doesn’t like to swim, but out here she sure does!
And, she LOVES sitting on Brian’s lap, especially when she can also keep an eye on the cat!!!!!!!
I found this scat the morning of August 8th…. it had been there maybe a day or so… it’s full of oats and yes, it’s…… Bear!!
Brian found a different pile of scat on August 10th, so we decided to pull the photos off of the trail cam. We did indeed have a griz walking up our driveway. These photos were from August 8th at about midnight.
He (she?) showed up in this same location in mid-July; and it could very well be the same griz that passed through in May. We are on the look-out for more tracks and scat, and not walking in the woods for now – the side-by-side is the way to go these days!!
And to our surprise, at about 6:30 am August 10th, a “Bachelor Herd” of White Tail Deer were also on our driveway!! This looks to be the same herd we’ve seen in and around our place over the last couple of weeks.
And, what do you suppose a bird dog and a herding dog found in the spruce tree outside the living room??? A cat?; a squirrel? No, a ….
Ruffed Grouse!!
Crepes, filled with chocolate chips, and topped with maple syrup, bananas, strawberries, blueberries and a dollop of sour cream!! Served with tea and coffee, and a bouquet of Redtail Rise flowers!!
After lots of terrific organizing by Susan, we picked up the U-Haul trailer without a hitch! (bahahahaha!) We “saran wrapped” several pieces, grabbed all the boxes, then loaded up our 5’x8′ trailer! Couldn’t have done it near so fast or so well without the help of Haydn, Ethan and Zoe! And the fabulous packing skills of Brian, Haydn and Ethan – wow!! Got ‘er all in, well stacked and strapped.
Here’s Brian and Ethan strapping in the load:
Ethan, with the well-packed trailer:
Dolly Ride!
The loading crew:
Fully Loaded!
And Locked!
The Last Supper!
Sad for Susan to say “Good-bye” here in Calgary, but she said she’s excited to heading to this new chapter in her life!!
We are “off” early in the morning, heading to Minot, ND.
We left Susan’s at 5:00 am, just as the rain stopped in Calgary. We drove with cloudy skies until Brooks, so no sun in the eyes with the sunrise!
Sadly, my cell didn’t do a very good job taking photos today! But, sharing what I did get….
Good-bye Alberta:
Helloooooo Saskatchewan!
Western Saskatchewan Sky:
Susan: “Look! Is that an emu?” Brian: “That’s a llama!” Susan: “Is there much difference?” Brian: “One a bird, the other’s an animal!” One of many, many laughs along the road! Susan figures Brian will never let her forget it! Seems to me we saw lots of “emus” along the road!
Salt Flats Near Chaplin, SK:
We stopped in Moose Jaw – to find the moose!! And to have lunch! 🙂 Found the moose, and a Tudor Fighter Jet (like the Snowbirds’ planes):
At the Visitors’ Center, Brian asked “Is there a Gluten Free restaurant in town for my wives?” 🙂 Without a blink the young woman said there were several restaurants with GF options; the older woman behind her was having a good giggle!
We got through the Border without too much trouble… a few more questions than we usually get… musta bin that U-Haul! 🙂
The drive from the Border down to Minot was beautiful – through a lush river valley (the Des Lacs River). We arrived in Minot at 6:30 pm CDT… a long first day, but it went quickly – at least for Susan and me! Brian did all the driving and Susan & I chatted, so maybe not so quick for him!
It was another beautiful day! We left at a very reasonable 8 am! Before leaving ND, we went by The Geographical Center of North America!
We crossed the Red River… Good-Bye North Dakota, Hello Minnesota!
We made a very worthwhile “detour” off of US 2, down to the headwaters of the Mississippi River!
Lake Itasca, Headwaters of the Mississippi:
Lots of the plants (flowers, trees, shrubs and weeds 🙂 ) were the same as at home:
We arrived in Duluth about 6:30. What a beautiful little city!!!! We had supper in, then wandered around, the Downtown Waterfront Area:
We Ubered for the first time – Wow! Does that ever work well!!!!!! Doubt it would work in Caroline, though! 🙂
The entire drive was very scenic! It’s green and lush looking, crops look terrific – they’ve definitely had some rains this Spring!
We were off again shortly after 8 am. Within 5 minutes of leaving the hotel in Duluth, it was “Good-Bye Minnesota, Hello Wisconsin!” And two hours later it was “Good-Bye Wisconsin, Hello Michigan!” Again, the drive was beautiful! Very green, lots of trees, lots of lakes, wonderful little towns; it was all very rural and small town.
Several times we were along the shore of Lake Superior – what an incredible lake!! At a surface area of 31,700 square miles, it’s the largest freshwater lake on Earth, with a maximum length 350 miles and a maximum width 160 miles. It is a gorgeous lake!!
We left Michigan from Sault Ste. Marie, MI, crossed the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, and entered Canada in to Sault Ste. Marie, ON.
Here are a couple pictures crossing on the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge:
After a wonderful supper of smokehouse ribs, we went down to the Boardwalk along the Canadian side of the St Marys River to watch the Fourth of July fireworks shot off from the US side.
There was a crescent (fingernail) moon out tonight!
The fireworks were spectacular!
We left Sault Ste. Marie at our usual departure time of 8 am ish. It was a lovely drive down to Collingwood! Lots of beautiful lakes and rivers! We stopped for a great lunch in Muskoka country near Parry Sound.
We rolled into Collingwood about 4:30… Mark was home to meet us! It was fabulous to see him!! We unloaded the U-Haul in no time, and returned it here in Collingwood. We had a quick tour of town, then wandered down to the Marina and Club House in his community (Blue Shores)…
