Wow, we hit the weather jackpot that weekend. Some might even call it a bit chilly, but I’ll take it every time. Sure beats the triple digits that have been known to happen around this time. I feel like we made pretty good use of the great temps too. Saturday was by far the warmest, and of course we picked that day to go to the county fair. Can’t win ’em all. And it’s not like it was brutal; I think it was about 82 and there was a nice breeze blowing. Neither of us has been to a fair in a loooonnnnngggg time. Pretty good time though! Although it definitely seemed to be a little more geared towards kids/families, there was a lot to see, as well as some first-rate people watching opportunities. We even dropped in on the pig auctions for a bit. Wow, they were bringing some crazy prices too.

Sunday the temp dropped into the low 70’s, so we broke out the convertible and did some wine tasting. We started the afternoon with brunch at the recently re-opened Goldvine Bistro. I have to say, we didn’t really care for it on our first trip during the dinner hours. We always try places a few times before giving up though, and it paid off with a great brunch on the second visit. They were a little on the busy side, but kept up reasonably well and we were in no hurry anyway. I had some good chilaquiles, and Donette had a breakfast burrito; Both were very good. After that we drove around to some of the nearby wineries for a few sips, mostly just enjoying the day. For dinner we thawed out a huge tomahawk ribeye that had been eating up freezer space for too long. Threw it on the Weber grill and it came out quite tasty. I’m all in on the Weber, I think the pellet grill is going to be relegated to the garage for a while. The flavor just doesn’t compare at all. And, I consider charcoal grilling a firm #6 on the “Top 10 Life Skills” list, so I need to keep in practice. Donette baked up a few loafs of sourdough bread too, and it came out perfect this time. Third time is a charm, as they say. Got it figured out now!

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All quiet on the western front! Our weekend got all messed up, due to the ongoing… rain!?!?! So odd. Still raining off an on, haven’t seen anything like it since we moved out here. I will definitely take the associated cooler weather, but I’m not adjusting to the precipitation very well. Last week I drove down to the office in the Jeep, sans top, and it didn’t work out very well at all. Rather sloppy, uncomfortable drive home. And not only does it alter my weekend entertainment schedule, it means the grass (weeds) just keep growing too. More mowing, more weedeating. Blech.

Friday was a nice break in the weather. We went to Bones for our standard-issue end-of-week celebration, then headed back home to grill and enjoy the porch. I broke out the Weber kettle for the occasion, first time this year. I’ve gotten used to just flipping the switch on the Traeger, but it just doesn’t do as well. Nope, can’t beat the Weber. Need to use it more. We kept it simple with some grilled chicken, and made tacos, rice and beans. After that we just sat on the front porch and enjoyed the 65 degree evening.

Saturday, the rains came again. We didn’t really have anything planned, but it was annoying all the same. We did make it down to Solid Ground for some lunch, and that was about our entertainment for the day. Luckily lunch overlapped the Royals game so I didn’t feel obligated to suffer that debacle again. Sunday brought still more rain. We enjoyed our motorcycle ride last weekend, and had worked up a destination for this weekend also. Alas, the weather dictated otherwise. We had planned to ride out to Lotus and hit Gorilla Rock for some tacos. After not a whole lot of thinking, we decided the tacos were more important than the ride, so we drove the car out there. Adapt and overcome. When we got back home, Donette worked on her first batch of sourdough bread. She’s been working on the “starters” for several weeks now. A month maybe? The first batch got thrown away, but this batch was looking good so she gave it a try. Pretty solid results! A little on the “flat” side; We decided maybe the dough needed more time to rise. Look at her, all country and stuff.

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Whew, starting to warm up out here. I’ve made it so far without kicking on the A/C, but I have a feeling today that streak ends. It’s 77 already upstairs, yeah that’s getting a big too toasty. Still cools off at night, but last night only got down to the mid-sixties so that’s not enough to use the house fan. And, that’s it for the Placerville weather forecast.

Not a bad weekend overall. Little cooking, got out of the house a few times, and watched a few movies. Saturday I was doing a few things around the yard, and noticed lunch time had come and gone. I had a few pieces of chicken I’d thrown on the smoker the day before, but that didn’t sound too good, so we loaded up the dogs and headed to the recently opened Moonraker Brewing in Cameron Park. They have a location in Auburn also, but we rarely go there because 1) it’s about an hour drive and 2) they don’t have any food. This new spot has been in the works a long time, and it’s really nice. Huge building, and a nice large outdoor area for the dogs with picnic tables. We’ve been there once since they opened, then I got a gift certificate for my birthday so we decided to try it again. Everything was very good and we had a great time sitting outside with the dogs, but wow was it slow. They were pretty much completely overwhelmed, and I have a feeling that happens most days. We had to stand in line 40 minutes just to order food, and I didn’t even keep track of how long it took to actually show up. Hopefully they get it ironed out soon because it would be a great spot to enjoy the weekends.

While we waited for our food Saturday, (and waited… and waited…) we chatted with a few guys who had ridden up on their motorcycles for the afternoon. We talked bikes, weather, blah blah blah, and at any rate they told us about a place up near Georgetown that was a popular destination for a day trip. It’s called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and it sounded like something between a bar and a historical landmark. We didn’t have any plans Sunday, so we decided to fire up the motorcycle and check it out. The ride out was fantastic, as advertised. Well, with the exception of about a 15 mile stretch of highway 193, which was just WAY above my riding level. Sheesh, it was sketchy. The slow curves don’t bother me much, but it had a lot of nasty 180 degree switchbacks that pretty much terrified me. I think I averaged about six mph over that stretch. Donette actually got off and jogged, and beat me by about five minutes. Everything stayed upright though, so I guess that was a victory. We got to the cabin in about an hour and half, and it was very cool. I mean yeah, indoor plumbing would have been nice, but the place is 150 years old so I guess that’s understandable. It’s very near the Rubicon Trail, so there were a lot of Jeep groups in there hanging out, as well as some more bikes. I imagine we’ll go back sometime! Going home we took a different route, and it worked out a little better. One thing I failed to look at was how high we were going though; There was still quite a bit of snow and it was cold! We even ran into a little rain, but not too bad. Overall a great ride, hopefully we do that a little more often. I need the practice, for sure.

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We took the motorhome down to Napa this past weekend for the annual BottleRock music festival. Our seventh time going, and I’ve sworn each one is my last time. We keep going though, against my better judgement. We have a great time every year, but I am getting too old for three days of music! It takes a toll for sure. There are five different stages, and invariably the next group I want to see is at the one furthest from the one I’m at. Lot of walking involved. We got our full eleven hours in all three days too! Well Donette and I cut it about 20 minutes short the last night. We were just out of gas, or at least I was. Plus the second night we stayed a little too long and it took us an hour to get through the line for the bus back to camp, so I didn’t want to chance that happening again. The weather was very cooperative this year, so that was nice. Cloudy and around 70 degrees each day; Can’t beat that! If I was going to gripe about anything, and I will, there were just some crazy schedule overlaps this year. There are usually a few, which I suppose cannot be avoided, but there were WAY too many this year. Can’t be two places at the same time! I had to miss a few shows I really wanted to go see, and I wasn’t too happy about it. Hope they get that figured out a little better next year. **If I go next year.

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Yeah, dropped off the earth for a few weeks. Been busy! Or maybe lazy. Maybe a mix of both. I had another birthday come and go last week. Ain’t getting younger, that’s for sure. Had a nice dinner out with friends, got lots of birthday wishes, and some excellent gifts. So happy birthday to me and all that.

Also had a camping trip in that quiet stretch, on the weekend of the 13th. We took the motorhome out to a nearby campsite for a quick weekend “boy’s trip.” Had a great time, and the campground was quite nice. Unfortunately it cost a bit more than our “regular” spot, but that one got flooded out this winter and still isn’t fully open. For the most part we just hung out at the site and ate, and swatted mosquitos. Pretty much checks the boxes of a good trip for me.

As for this past weekend, we had a good time also. Got a lot of things checked off the “home tasks” list. Yeah, those don’t fall under the “good time” category, but it’s nice to actually get a few done. I got a big section of the yard weed-eated. (Weed-ate? Weeded? Mowed? Not sure the right word there.) That’s a nasty, dirty chore to be sure, but it sure looks better. Never got it done last year and it looked pretty sketchy all summer. Didn’t get any complaints from the neighbors, because there aren’t any, but hey, we have to look at it. We also got a good start on the garden. We tilled it up a few weeks ago, and made a few rows of mounds to plant in. Last year we had a few raised beds in there, but they were kind of falling apart so we just tore them down. Then on Saturday, we ran some drip lines for watering and got the majority of the plants in. The drip lines seems to be working out great. The last few years we’ve just thrown a sprinkler in there. It works, but it also waters a lot outside the garden. That makes the grass/weeds grow and then I have to mow them. Ohhhhh, the agony. Anyway, it seems to be coming along nicely. Just have to get a few more things planted and then start picking all our delicious produce.

After we got all that done, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to one of our favorite lunch spots, Solid Ground in Diamond Springs. (It might not qualify as our favorite if there were more than a few options nearby, but lets just overlook that part. It’s not bad, to be sure.) I have two standard orders there; The chicken sandwich, or the chicken nuggets. (Yeah those sounds like kids meals, but they’re really very good.) This particular day, I guess I was feeling a little outrageous, and actually scanned the rest of the menu. Suddenly the word “Rueben” jumped off the page at me, and I immediately went with it. Yep, I’ll have the Rueben please. Shortly afterwards, my sandwich shows up, and the confusion set it. While certainly a sandwich, and certainly on nicely grilled marbled rye, there was a thick pile of what appeared to be pickled beets in the middle. And no meat. Well that ain’t right. By the time my shock subsided and I looked up to voice my displeasure, the waitress was gone. Luckily before I had the chance to stand on the table and cause what surely would have been an unpleasant scene, Donette informed me “Yeah you ordered the Root Vegetable Rueben. Thought that was odd but whatever.” Aw geez. Guess I should have read that a little bit closer. OK, the menu item literally says “Root Vegetable Rueben.” But seriously, who even came up with that idea? Native Californian, to be sure. It really wasn’t bad, or maybe I just tried to convince myself of that. It’ll be back to chicken next time, I know that much.

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