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The Barn:   It's been envisioned as many things -- a bunk room, a very large closet, a man cave, La Casa Grunion, spacious quarters for all of Monterey County's mouse population -- but the time has come to seriously think about where we're going to process and brine all of those olives and have all of those grandchildren sleep.  Consequently, despite the fact that there are yet untasted new wines in our area, we jumped in and have begun the barn clean-up, which is Phase I.  Phase II will include creation of a plan for the common area of the barn, including some place to wash and brine the olives, sanitize wine glasses, and chill things, like dormant benchgrafts and yeast to go in wine.  One might envision things to accommodate these needs such as a sink, dishwasher, and refrigerator.  A working water heater would be an added bonus.  

Barn Tour, please!

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Gate Entry and Beautification Project:  Who can forget the great times opening the three gates each time we visit -- usually in a blinding rainstorm with 60 mph winds?  Much as we'd like to keep the good times rolling, we'd rather keep the cars rolling, so installation of the first solar gate opener commenced the last weekend of February 2008.

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THE ARROYO PROJECT:  On the off chance we were just sitting around the last two weeks of December 2007, all of January 2008, and half of February, Mother Nature decided that she would make up for all that nasty drought business by sending about 15" of rain to us in about six weeks.  For some unknown reason, Stuart anticipated this, and with never-before-seen urgency, began planning erosion control measures as early as October, and picked up steam as we neared the rainy season, working most of the week between Christmas and New Year's, and even worked all day New Year -- nearly until he dropped.  He dropped on January 2nd, the rain dropped in earnest starting on January 3rd.  While I am normally hesitant to publicly admit he was right, he was right.

Building the Arroyo

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Vines and Wine:  Although we have long considered ourselves experts in the drinking of wine, the actual planning, research, preparation and planting of the vines and development of a wine of which we can be proud began in 2007.

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Building the Pergola:  Envious that William Randolph Hearst possessed the distinction for building the largest pergola in the State of California, in 2006, Stuart embarked upon a mission to unseat the holder of that record.  Falling just short (by about three-quarters of a mile), we're confident that it may be the largest pergola in Monterey County; if not Monterey County, possibly San Miguel; if not San Miguel, possibly north of Cross Canyon; if not north of Cross Canyon, definitely on Ranchita Avenue.