Sun Aug 17 2025
Let me list some reasons why.
They are obnoxiously loud. They sing all night long when the moon is out.
And no, they don't adopt other bird songs. They have one set of pre-packaged songs, that's it. They are a tape on continuous play, like a late-70s pop FM radio station, except it's unpleasant and annoying.
They alight on an end post and restart the tape. They move to a trellis wire and restart the tape. They move to a vine and restart the tape. They move to a tree and restart the tape. Ad finitum.
For heaven's sake, will a lady mockingbird show up and get this guy to shut up!
But that photo of a drip line doing water works? That's really aggravating. That's a mockingbird's doing. One mockingbird will pierce holes in a series of drip lines, in a line perpendicular to the vine rows. And guess what? That line leads straight to the nest.
About this time of year, the mockingbirds finally move on. Looks like maybe just one straggler who was nagging on Spotte yesterday.
As I've said in the past, due to possible violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, I am redacting the details of how exactly I encouraged that last mockingbird to leave: █ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████.
Yay! Peace and quiet. No more drip line repairs.
Fri Aug 15 2025
Gopher traps at my favorite gopher trap supply store cost a whopping $10.99 today.
They cost $8.73 just a few months ago. Prior to January 20. (Weren't prices supposed to go down on January 21?)
$10.99 is a 25% increase over the cost a few months ago. Hey, isn't that the tariff rate now?
I was going to buy 4 but that price put me off. I bought 2.
I buy gopher in traps in 2s because when you expose a gopher tunnel, you put trap #1 in the tunnel pointing in one direction, then in put trap #2 pointing in the other direction.
Since I bought 2 traps and not 4, my gopher trapping efficiency drops by half. I can set traps for just one gopher at a time instead of two at a time. Hmm. Is that what economists would call a "decline in productivity"?
I get more idle time because I don't get to set those 2 additional traps. If I was paying staff to set my gopher traps, I'd have to think about laying-off half of them.
Oh, and my gopher trap supply store? They lost some revenue. Not a whole lot just talking about these gopher traps, but I'm not the only one shopping in that store. I hope they don't go broke because of tariffs. I like that store.
Kind of a micro version of what's happening with our economy.
Thanks for nothing, kinga-dope-adingaling!
Sun Aug 10 2025
Yesterday evening, a tiny monsoon cloud crossed over the mountains heading in our direction. When it got here, a few sprinkles came down, that was it. Ah well, we're not getting any rain tonight.
Then the tiny cloud stopped. It grew and grew and grew. It sprawled out to the east and to the west, then to the north and to the south. On radar, yellow and red areas appeared. Mairie said, ah, look, is that hail? Teeny weeny white dots hit the ground, just here and there, bounced, and shoo'd away in the wind. How cute.
Serious rain started coming down. We moved our chairs further underneath the canopy to get away from it. Eventually we were inside. Thunderous rain came down. Water flowed in the fields and down the driveway. It filled all the low spots to the top and over flowed and ran towards the back fence where it made an ankle deep lake across the back field.
Clippity cloppity that's a different sound. That's hail! Marble size, it kept up for maybe 20-30 seconds. That's enough to do damage.
This morning, we walk the vineyard. It's like Jekyll and Hyde out there. The hail slanted in from the south. The south facing leaves are in tatters, the fruit exposed. The north side is prisitine, as if nothing happened, beautiful clusters hanging in the midst of big and happy leaves.
Some fruit damage on the south side. Not horrible considering, but also time will tell the story. Break open a juicy berry on the top of a cluster and rot can follow in the next days. And the other the question now, Is there enough leaf surface remaining on the south side of the vines to ripen that fruit? We'll find out.
Oh, and what a treat last night, the toady chorus came out to sing again, and it was so good to hear all those old renditions of their famous hits. How did those little things survive through last year, so hot and so dry? Well, I'm glad they did.
Thu Jun 5 2025
It must be Everything Breaks Week. The drive on well #2 alarmed. Too many amps. What could it be? The pump guy says it's the electricity supply. The electrician says it's the pump. The pump guy now says it's the drive. The drive guy says it's the pump. The pump guy proves the pump is working. The drive guy fesses up. Parts are on the way.
Good thing we have well #1 still online. But its dirty and it clogs up the filter and the filter does not automatically clean anymore (I've been putting off that fix). Parts are getting ordered. In the mean time, I clean it manually and often.
The water to the building discovered the sine wave. Fast, slow, gush, dribble. I have a spare transducer and that fixes it. Now there is suddenly real water pressure at the building and it finds a weak spot in the plumbing (I've been putting off that fix). I need to get to the hardware store for parts.
The tractor won't start. Why? Because the key ignition came apart and fell inside of the fender wall. Easy enough, I'll take the fender off and see if I can re-attach it. Oh no, the fender bolts are stripped. Must have happened the last time the tractor was in the shop. The world makes these brutes that are determined to tighten down bolts whether or not they've found the threads. Parts on the way.
And I had to order the parts using the iPad over cellular vs on the laptop over internet. Why? Because the thunderstorm that came through the other night took out the radio antenna at the pole. "24 to 48 hours" says the telecom.
Argh, when will this end?
Sat May 10 2025
Having a vineyard and all, intimately connected to the earth and Mother Nature and of course, the weather, I have become tuned in more to what God really wants. I'm not saying I'm perfect at it yet, but I think I might be starting to get the message.
Take wind, for instance. God uses wind to show me where He wants things. To my prior way of thinking, wind was just a bloody nuisance. In these parts, the wind is magnified by the terrain and elevation, so the annoyance is magnified as well. It's like giving God a megaphone for wind making.
So here's an example message from our Lord on High, with these vine shelters. I put a bunch of these in a bucket and set them down at the end of the vine rows where we are currently thinning and suckering. It's for when we run into baby vines that need a shelter from the sun and the elements, duh.
But no, God does not want those shelters in a bucket at the end of the vine rows. No sirree. Using the wind, God picked up those vine shelters and showed me exactly where He thought they should go. And God doesn't like those buckets where they are either. He moves them around too.
And this is not the first time, either. This has happened on plenty of occasions. And it's not just vine shelters and buckets. All sorts of things get distributed throughout the vineyard by the wind (ie God). Guaranteed, it could be something big or small, light or heavy, put it out there in your spot and be patient, give it time, and soon enough God will use the wind to put it somewhere else where He wants it, in His spot.
I feel like such a dolt, so slow to pick up on these transmissions from God Above, these messages of magnitude and import about where I should be putting things. It seems kind of random where God wants these things to go, so I feel so stupid and I'm trying hard to understand and make sense of this great mystery.
But when I die and go to heaven and get to meet God face to face, I'm still going to give him a few gazillion dope slaps (there'll be plenty of time) . Why? Because there's way too much goddamm wind!!!! You Dope.
Tue Apr 1 2025
Uh-hum, the vines are budding out. And we have a month to go before putting frost behind us. Thirty days of Dreaded April. Peril, stress, and frost fans.
Already, with leaves unfurling, the first freezing night looms. The forecast for Wednesday night was 30F. That was yesterday. Today the forecast is 28F. The prediction for an upcoming overnight temperature rarely goes up. I wonder sometimes if the folks at NOAA are trying to break the news gently and gradually. So 30F becomes 28F and I'm guessing, are we are looking at 26F when they finally get to the real number?
Easy come, easy go.
This would be the third year in a row that we got some vines frosted. That is not a good trend.
But last year, the vines produced like never before. Even the frosted varieties.
We are crossing our fingers and putting in the ear plugs.
Sat Mar 15 2025
So the kingadingaling wants to slap a 200% tariff on European wine and spirits imports.
Hmm, don't look at that headline because this might be just the thing that cures the slumping Arizona wine industry. We have pretty much given up trying to get into restaurants, and we are not unusual (well, we are, but that's a different story for later). Our wholesale price points are too high and those restaurants don't want to reduce their profit margins on alcohol just for us. I don't blame them (but won't you carry just one Arizona wine? Come on!).
The thing Arizona wineries don't have is "scale". Arizona wineries are typically small, boutique, low-production entities. When you divide operational costs across the quantity of wine production, it's just simple math that Arizona wine is going to wholesale for more than the bigger European producers.
Have you seen those pictures on Rick Steve's Europe travel show of the rolling hills of vineyards in Italy that stretch to the horizon? That's a whole bunch of grapes and tankers full of wine. They can grow those grapes, make the wine, put it in bottles, and ship it all the way to the US by the boat load and charge your favorite restaurant maybe $3 per bottle. And you pay, hmm, $30 or more when that cork pops out at your table.
So with that 200% tariff, the restaurant will have to start paying at least $9 per bottle for an Italian Chianti. Hey, that's about what our wholesale price is for the Arizona version. And the restaurant will have to eat that extra cost or else pass it on to their customers, either way, it will work out. So we can compete now! Yay!
And in the nick of time, too, because boy do we need to sell more wine. Because we're coming up on really needing to replace a vehicle. And because of other new tariffs, that‘s going to cost us at least $10,000 more than we expected. That's only 1111 bottles of wine at $9 wholesale.
I'm pretty confident, yes, even quite sure, yup it's just a simple matter now, with that 200% tariff and all, that we will be able to find a restaurant close by that wants that much wine!
Fri Mar 14 2025
It's Pi Day, so this one has a numbers theme!
The rosé says its ready to bottle. We already decided the wine has good acid and we decided that using our taste buds. But let's measure pH just for kicks. It's 3.77. That seems weirdly high, doesn't it? Maybe my pH electrode is not accurate. I send off a lab to confirm. Sure enough, pH comes back 3.79.
If we did things "by the numbers" here, we would be panicking now. We'd be scrambling to get that pH down to 3.3 or 3.4 or at maximum 3.5, where a "normal" rosé should be.
Adding acid at this point is risky. Acid needs time – months – to incorporate, and once that is done, it's just a good thing to do to cold stabilize it. We use Mother Nature to do that here. We put the wine outdoors for a few cold nights in December or January to bring the temperature down to a typical refrigerator setting below 40F. That causes the extra tartaric acid to precipitate out. The overnight temperatures aren't cold enough now, and for sure won't be later on, to do that.
Does this point to something being different about Arizona wine? Because pH numbers are often higher in all types of Arizona wine – red, white, rosé – at least in our wines, than the "by the numbers" rules call for.
But we don't panic here. Don't get me wrong. Numbers are good to have as guides. But in the end, it's our own palates that we need to trust.
Tue Mar 11 2025
Just wanted to put up these front and back comparison photos to show that I am not sitting on my ass here.
The holiness comes from prickly things in the vineyard like thorny tumbleweeds and, believe it or not, turning barrels on racks. Those rivets and barrel bands are sharp and unless you're Superman, you have to lean your thighs onto the barrel while turning it.
I sew on patches as holes appear and you know, denim is thick. That's the point of denim. Thick and tough and it's tough to get a needle through it. It gets to the point where it's time to give up on that and look for replacement jeans.
If I'm in the big city and have the time, I'll stop by Goodwill to see if they have something appropriate in my size. Sometimes it works and I walk out with an $8 pair of nearly-new jeans. Most times, I visit 2 or 3 or 4 Goodwill stores and come home with nothing but a bunch of lost time.
So it's tempting to just splurge and get brand new jeans. Which I just did. I caved. No, the new ones don't go out to the field or into the winery. The brand new jeans from a couple years ago get to retire to the vineyard, just like me. And get holy (uh, not so much like me!).
Tue Feb 25 2025
Water comes out of the ground here at about 60 degrees. Do vines wake up when the ground is somewhere in the 50s? Should we irrigate? But we need to load up the soil with water. Those are the instructions for February. That is the lore.
It has been very warm, not just for this time of the year, but warm period. I say 60s, 70s, and reaching 80 is warm. The vines are pushing.
But the nights are cold, still below freezing. It's sunrise here and the vines drip icicles.
Maybe what happens is the ground is still cold enough to chill down the irrigated water. There is a whole lot of ground compared to the water. And once that water is colder, it will be harder to warm up again, and it will keep those roots cold.
Let's hope so!
Sat Jan 18 2025
Wikipedia says the New Year begins "at or near the northern winter solstice", when the sun reaches its most southern point before making a turn to head north again. There are many other New Year starts in various cultures, but obviously, this is the one that dominates in Western Civilization. The Romans came up with it way back in the BCs.
Since those ancient times, the winter solstice has been a reason to be hopeful because it marks the point when days start getting longer and the sun's warmth begins to return.
New Year comes in the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere and that just must be weird. Right in the middle of the growing season. They should have their own New Year's Day sometime in June or July.
I was thinking, what if the new year started, say, in the spring here in the north? That would be awful. Things are waking up and renewing in the vineyard at that time, so it seems kind of appropriate, but it's also starting to get really busy. There wouldn't be that lazy time to pause and contemplate that we have around Jan 1.
As it is now, during New Years there is plenty of time to consider and learn from last year's events and think about how to apply those lessons to the coming year. There's no rush. Instead, there's a luxury of not much to do. I don't have to think fast. The vines are not calling every morning, saying, thin me, water me, fertilize me, de-bug me.
And then Jan 2 comes. There's still that lingering glow of idle relaxation. Things are fresh, full of promise. We can do this, better than before, and there's plenty of time. Then it's Jan 3 and 4, and so on. Time to take inventory and work on end of year reports. The books need to be wrapped up. Taxes are due. Permits and business insurance renew. The pressure gauge starts to register.
Week one passes. Dude, you need to get soil labs done, start planning for granular, and before putting out granular, you gotta catch up with all the weeds out there, and it would be good if the granular was out and worked in ahead of pruning, and pruning needs to start, um, pretty soon now. That pressure needle takes a jump, getting close to the yellow zone.
Now it's Jan 18. And then there's the winery. Whites and rosés need to be fined and filtered for bottling in another month. You need to sort out the red wines, figure out blends and which ones get to be varietals. Get bottles and corks ordered. Send wine label content to the graphic designer then to the printer. That pressure needle is buzzing in the red now.
You are way, way behind schedule! What were you thinking. Get back to work!
Thu Nov 28 2024
"The vintners have spoken" is the headline. They do not want the AMA. No, they don't want any restrictions on expanding the vineyards. Even if that means that the water keeps going down. Even if that means more industrial ag wells get drilled and more land cleared for pivots and pistachios. Even if that means more wells go dry around the basin and more fissures open up. Even if that means their own wells need to be drilled deeper.
They want to party like its 1999.
The strange thing is they acknowledged the problem at the AMA hearing. They know there is a problem with declining water levels in the basin. They know the aquifer continues to be drained. They know it's going to take regulation to deal with it.
But that's the thing. They just don't want to deal with it.
Are they waiting for consensus? Are they waiting for leadership? Are they waiting for deliverance? That's all present and accounted for. Pretty much everyone at the AMA hearing agreed there is a problem, including the anti-AMA crowd. The AMA law clearly allows for designation of the AMA. And there might just be the necessary resolve now in the ADWR Director's office to go forward with designating the AMA.
But they are blind and deaf, insensate and paralyzed.
So the vintners have spoken. Their words are about plain, simple, out-in-the-open greed and callousness. Their words are short-sighted and beyond disappointing. Let's hope nobody is listening.