Storm Clouds a-brewin'

We had storm clouds roll in the other evening.  Thunder rumbled in the distance. Occasionally, you caught a glimpse of lightening.  The wind picked up, and cooled off the day's heat.

Unfortunately, it didn't amount to much- no rain... BUT! There's one thing that happened.  It sure made for a beautiful sunset! 

Father's Day

Father's Day spent without the children you fathered, tends to be a bit lonely. But each of the kids made sure to give Bruce a call, and chat for awhile- reminding him of how much they miss him, and appreciate him.

Bruce decided on shish kabob for dinner- one of our all time favorites! This time we had elk, chicken AND shrimp!!! as well as onions, peppers and mushrooms.

All ready for the grill! doesn't that look luscious?!

Only one problem. Just when we were ready to grill, it began to POUR outside! Bruce persevered! :)

Thank goodness for golf umbrellas!

Soon enough, it was done...

add rice pilaf, and a fresh spinach salad (spinach picked from our garden), a bottle of wine, French Silk Pie for dessert... Nothing could be better!

YUM! a meal fit for a King! :)

After dinner, it was time to open gifts.  Chelsey sent him the entire cd collection of National Geographic magazines... dating back to the early 1900's!!!

Cass sent him a Slug Mug! from UCSC! (the Banana Slug is UCSC's mascot).

Cade sent him the book "Into the Wild" and another book of entertaining golf stories.

Cade wrote special notes inside each book. Cass sent a loving note on the back of a sketch he'd made while sitting on a Calif. beach. Chelsey sent a hilarious card, including a letter expressing her love and admiration.  Each child sent thoughtful, meaningful gifts showing how well they knew their Dad, how much they loved him and relating their appreciation of everything he's always done for them.

I think Bruce had a wonderful Father's Day, and felt truly loved and cherished. 

And he deserved every bit of it.

Journey

Against everyone's better judgment and advice, I bought another mare- a 4 1/2 yr. old Paint, whom I named Journey. She's 15.2 hands, steady, calm, and LOVES people. 

I think she'll be a really good addition to my little herd- and hopefully, she'll become the trail horse I'm longing for. 

Welcome, Journey- kind, gentle soul

Making Beer

 Ideally, Bruce should be writing this post... because although I've watched him make several batches of beer, I have only a vague idea of what he is doing and why.  What I DO know is that he enjoys the entire process very much- every bit as much (and perhaps even more) than the final outcome. :)

Bruce mixes up various flavors or styles of beer in this large keg. It has to sit for 2 wks.  Once the two weeks are up, he bottles the brew.

Bruce really likes glass bottles, but they are expensive, so he saves every glass bottle from all different places, and beers, and re-uses them for bottling his own beer.  The scary thing about using glass bottles, is that the beer can build up pressure and explode. EEK!

You have to put sugar in the bottles... just the right amount. I believe this has something to do with carbonation.  Bruce measures it very carefully with this cool little calibration thingie. :)  See how much I know about this??? 

Then, the caps go on. This handy little device is a bottle capper. 

and yes... it's every bit as fun to use as it looks!

NOW... you have to wait again. Two weeks at the minimum, although, Bruce tends to like his beer aged a bit longer- 3-4 wks. more.  His next project is trying to make hard cider! Now THAT I may even like! :)

Rainbows

With all the rain we've been getting- have come spectacular rainbows.

It has always seemed to me, that Wind's Echo gets brighter, more colorful, more vibrant rainbows than anywhere else.

Perhaps it's clear, unpolluted air...

perhaps it's some atmospheric condition...

OR

Maybe it's just the magic of the place itself. 

Guess what I believe.. :)