Not a good thing

It's Friday and I have been gone all week. The apricots and the plums are fast ripening, so I need to get my domestic act together and do something with the fruit besides stand under the tree with juice on my chin. Last year Glen and I fenced in many of the fruit trees because the deer were ripping the peach branches and breaking the wood. While I was gone the fence got left open, and my two little apples are stripped of leaves and apples except for the top of the larger of the two. Too bad, that will stop the growth for the rest of the year, although the trees will live. It's always something, isn't it?

Just what every home needs

In the summer I spend a lot of time on my front porch. Even in the morning I have one chair that can be in the shade. Now the thing makes a good porch a friendly place than to have it safe. I mean, a turkey or a deer might get too close. Even that @#$#% feral gray cat that eats on the back deck while being stared at from the safety of the screened-in living room by 3 pairs of feline eyes might have the effrontery of invading the front door if it were not well guarded. One can't be too careful about these things.

If money were no object

This weekend G and I attended the Victorian Casino Auction here in Las Vegas. Hey, this is a legitimate business trip since I worked Friday AND Monday, and it is MY territory. We just happened to be here over the weekend, and just happened to be at the auction by 8:30 Saturday morning. What?? I won't say what we bought, just that Glen the amazing car packer managed to get all of it, and me too, in the car for the trip back.

So, while I was there, I got a few little things for my dear friends. Here they are, except for you, Claire, since antiques are not your schtick.

Jackie, we know you are working on your interior of the new condo. I picked out a lamp just for you, since we all know how tacky the existing dining room lamp is (sorry it is so blurry, it is the Budweiser Clydesdales if you can't tell) :

Then for Linda and Jim, the most expensive antique of the day, a $25,000 juke box of which there are only 5 - it's not even a stand-alone box, but a "remote" unit that sends selections to the main juke box to be played. Only the best for my music loving friends. Sweet, isn't it?

And for Elinora, who has a recently redone kitchen AND a coffee habit, a beautiful, restored, free-standing coffee grinder. a real beauty if I do say so myself

Then for G, the one that got away, a real steal, a signed Frank Polk original for only $9K. Look at that face!



So that Leilani has a place to store her yarn and hats, a set of 3 hatboxes:

And for my cousin's weekend entertainment, here you go.

The lane, and 3 slat-chairs and tables were also for auction, so heck we can throw those in as well.

Just another day at the office

Today I drove up to Napa to see a customer building out a new lab. He does wine R&D, not the usual wine testing for alcohol, acids, etc. that most of my enology customers do. Here's the front door to the Constellation Wines lab. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it (and no, couldn't go to the tasting bar, darn)