Wine Tasting, Dinner, and Death (near death) Experiences

For reasons described below, there are three themes to this post.

Tasting
Last night, Margie treated the Fab Five and Spouses to a $400 wine tasting event. It was really lots of fun. We all met at the event, and Margie had purchased each of us a memento of the event. A wine glass holder that hangs from your neck. I'd gotten each of us one before, but of course she had to out-do me. She got insulated ones. Cool, NO? In case you can't read it, it says "Liquid Sanity"

We took several pictures with Gerry's camera, but I don't yet have them to post. It was great fun. The hostess was very knowledgeable about every wine she had selected. We learned the correct way to sample wines. First, look at it and see if it's clear. (not cloudy or any floating particles) Second step is to swirl the glass to aerate it. Then check the glass for glycerol edges.... seeing what type of lines it makes. Swirl again, and stick you nose INTO the glass and sniff. It is then that you can detect the various ingredients.....example.....fruit, pepper, oak, etc. Next step, put it in your mouth, and sort of gargle it thru your lips. I can't describe it, but you suck in thru pursed lips, then swish it into your mouth, then swallow. It all sounds weird, but I did find that if you don't swirl and swish, it definitely tastes different. It is more mellow if you do it her way. I loved every white wine we tasted. We moved on to reds..... they were okay, better than any I've ever had, but I'm not a red wine person. Maybe with a meal. We all had a chance to buy our favorite wine at 10% off. Most of us bought several bottles.

Dinner

Then, we all headed for the restaurant. We voted on Hillstone's, which was previously a Houston's restaurant. We couldn't get seated for an hour or so, so we walked across the parking lot to R&D Kitchens. We split into groups of five, and were seated within 10 minutes. We divided into groups of guys and gals. The five of us had fun, surprise, surprise! The food was unusual, and very good. Not overly priced. There was an 18% mandatory gratuity included. The service was adequate, but not special. We decided we were happy with the restaurant. Gary said the guys had superb service, but that he didn't see on his bill that the tip was included, so he tipped. Weird....

We all agreed that it was immense fun. THANK YOU MARGIE!

Death

Now, this concerns Gary. First of all, I want to give an update on his fence project.....

It is beautiful. There is one minor thing I need to point out...... the pretty side was "supposed" to be on the outside on the portion that can be seen from the street. I won't even go there. At least it's 50% done. Not bad for a project that is nearing one year in progress.

Here's a pix of the patio. It shows where he's moved his remaining fence parts. Notice, there is a window unit in the lower portion of the window, behind the boards.

Yes, he was so super and went out and got us window units until we got the main unit working. So, the people called early this morning, and I checked, and the unit is "supposedly" working fine. I canceled the appointment. I did tell Gary, who said OK. Later, Gary comes in and says he's changing out the inside breaker cause it keeps tripping and maybe the outside unit ruined it when it burned up. (That was the reason the outside unit wasn't working..... the outside breaker burned up. It was replaced, and the unit started working.) I said OK.

Gary calls me into the garage a little later, and shows me the problem. When the air conditioner is running, the breaker makes a loud clicking noise. I tell him how smart he is, etc. Well, sorta. I think I actually said OK. I'm gonna dust the garden with Seven Dust. Off I go. I do the east side of the house, then get to the west side where the AC unit is. It smells like burning rubber. It is clanking loudly, and I look, and the compressor is making the humming running noise, but the fan isn't working. I go find Gary and tell him. He says, well, I'm going to change the breaker and the we'll see what's going on. Here's where the Death, near death anyway part comes in.

I suggest that we not change the breaker, as that won't cause the compressor to run but keep the fan from turning. I tell him I'll turn the temp to max and he can go outside and see what's happening. He says NO, he's going to go ahead and change the inside breaker and then see. I said.... well hurry up.... it's after noon and we're not on the list for them to come out. It just goes down hill from there.

Since then, we'd had various back and forths, and I called Angie to see if she wanted to come over and say goodbye to her Dad before I killed him. I wanted to have her take a video of him so she could show it to the girls, cause I couldn't wait to kill him until after they got out of school. Well, crap, she's at work. I decided I don't have a gun, I couldn't stab him, and Dad is too weak to help me hang him, so I'm going to let him live to see another day.

Long story short, I called the AC people to put us back on their list. Gary came in, and he'd changed out the breaker. Guess what? We still have the $#@&*^# problem. He's now on his way to get a new fan. I asked if I should call and cancel the appointment with the AC people. He said no, it may be something else. My first thought..... why change it if you're not sure that's the problem. There is just no way I understand his logic. Wait.... what logic?

This blog is one way for me to cool off and retain some sanity. It's sort of like therapy. I've taken a Valium, had a coke, cooled off a bit, and I'm feeling much better. I don't care if the AC ever gets fixed. I have to stay in my room all day or watch Gunsmoke reruns with my Dad, and at least my room has a portable AC unit. What more could a gal ask for?

I now have 3 bottles of wine from the wine tasting..... I'm going to start on the first one now......