Happy Independence Day!

So... the wife worked this weekend. Since we couldn't BBQ at the park and enjoy the show, we thought we'd take the party to her. There was a good chance there'd be fireworks nearby, anyway.

So we went to the top of the parking garage at the hospital.
We got there about 6:30 so that I could start the grill and we could hopefully eat before dark.
She insists that we weren't allowd to have the grill there, but we didn't get in trouble. We did have a visit from a couple cops and security guards. Apparently someone complained that we were lighting fireworks. The kids were just throwing "pop-its" at each other.

I don't think I've ever gotten a top-view of a palm tree before, so here's a picture taken over the wall.

This is our view as the sun went down.

And our view once the show started.

Parker Hale, like new. (Guns XXXI)

Remember the Parker Hale .270?
It was my dad's and it had a cracked stock. I took it to a local gunsmith. He said that he thought he'd be able to fix it.
When they called for me to pick it up, he had a new (beat up and ugly) wood stock on it and wanted to measure me for it. I explained that it was not the stock I wanted, that if I had to replace it I wanted the Hogue Overmolded stock. He was not happy because he'd already glassbedded (sic?) the rifle and I was not happy because some of the glasbedding (also sic?) was visible on the barrel.
I should have read more on the forums... I probably could have swapped stocks myself in retrospect, but I thought he'd fix the wood.
Long story short, he got the right stock and I'm glad to be done with the whole thing. He slopped on the screws and never did remove the extra glas (also also sic?). I'll not have him do any more gunsmithing for me. On the other hand, I should have guessed judging by the scratches on some of the for sale pistols (brand new) in the display cases that their attitude was more about functionality than about artistry.

Here she is:




On yet another hand, their prices are reasonable and I picked up a Heritage .22lr/mag SA revolver. I had them order it, and they never took it out of the box. It's pretty nice and shoots awfully straight for a ~$200 brand-spankin'-new pistol. I don't have pics of that one yet, but you can expect another post pretty soon: either I'll get some photos of the .22 or I'll get the Parker Hale out to the range and shoot some paper and some pictures.

A Taste of Manatee, 2 November 2008

We went to "A Taste of Manatee" last Sunday mostly because Kevin was playing in his jazz combo and partly because of the allure of FOOD. Firkin and Fox (new restaurant, only been around a couple weeks) had some tasty New England clam chowder and unfortunately I can't remember who had some delicious fish tacos, but they had coleslaw and tomatillos on them and they were GREAT! And in case you didn't know, the jazz was cool.

There was also a custom motorcycle builder...

A tie-dye vendor...

A wine distributor with this tasty wine (a bottle of which I did purchase)...

a guy who's not who I thought he was...

quite a nice waterfront view...

ice sculpturing...

palm trees (don't you just love Florida in November?)...

the aforementioned jazz drummer...

and his girlfriend...

Roller Derby

We went with Jim and John, a couple of fellow HAMS club members, and met up also with Marck and Heather of Bacon Towne Records, to a recent Bradentucky Bombers roller derby thing (match, game, ???). It was the last of the season, the Bombers split into two teams: the Garter Belt Gangsters (who we rooted for) vs. the Jawbreakers (they wore pink) in the Trailer Trash Rumble. We (the Garter Belt Gangsters) won! It was the first time I'd witnessed a roller derby event and I was really quite impressed at the thing. It was much better than I thought it would be, and really was very athletic and sportslike. You'd have to see it to understand, I think. Perhaps next time, I'll learn to do video and add it to the blog.

I've seen this sign for the last 4 years: "Rosa Fiorelli Winery 14 miles".

Misty and I went with some fellow H.A.M.S. club members to Rosa Fiorelli Winery this afternoon.

We were given this tasting sheet to go by. As you can see, I felt the best was #9, followed by #4, then #5. Strange thing about #9 was this: it was supposed to be a dessert wine, but Antonio (we're on a first name basis with sr. Fiorelli now LOL) forgot to back-sweeten it before bottling. We also tried it fully sweetened, but preferred the mistake! My notes got cut off, but it says re #9: "deep, big grape".
On the back I made notes about tasting #5 and #7 chilled. The server made a production out of drinking the Conquistador Gold just right so as to flush the cheeks and produce goosebumps. I think it worked. The illustration at the bottom references the dessert in a photo below.






Most of the tasting room pics came out blurry because of the low light, but I thought this one of dessert preparation was OK.

Our two favorites:
After tasting, we toured. First up, the 55 degree room:

I love that he uses the same airlock that homebrewers do!

Bottle filler:
Crusher/destemmer, and bladder press:

Then we went outside to visit with the grapes for a while.

New plantings:
Antonio:

When he was young, in Sicily, he didn't like picking grapes and making wine but was made to do it by his family. Now, he says, "it is the passion".

Clois du Bois:
The entrance/exit: