Doggie Daycare and Wine

I can tell when I've  been gone too long when I'm greeted on my blog hosting site with a request to re-log-in.

Sorry about that.

Today I took the dogs to a local doggie day care that we hadn't tried before.  The staff was a little surprised at my willingness to drop off my dogs and leave, fairly unconcerned.  I don't know about other dog owners, but my dogs kind of do their own thing and they are well socialized, so it's not like I'm worried that they will not be invited to the birthday party.  They'll play with anyone and everyone, furry or otherwise.  I took a tour of the facilities, signed the necessary waivers, and walked out the door.  When I picked them up at 4:30, they were happy as clams and gladly climbed in the car for the ten minute drive home.  Since I don't have a fenced backyard, I think they really enjoy running around in the open-air runs with the other dogs.  The staff goes outside and plays with them, too, so they have a lot of interaction throughout the day.

After we picked the dogs up, we noticed a new winery had opened up down the road.  So, we dropped the dogs off and headed back to the winery for tastings.  I love arriving at wineries when no one else is there, just us and the owners.  The man who owns the winery came out with a big happy smile on his face and introduced himself as "the janitor...also, chief winemaker."  We laughed heartily as he led us over to the tasting bar.  We told him we are amatuer wine makers, and we always enjoy chatting with vinters about their techniques.  This particular vinter, from Lima, Peru, was very friendly and sweet.  He extended an offer to us to come back and taste his off-the-shelf wines (the ones he is still messing with in the production room), and encouraged us to bring our own back.  We were duly impressed with his wines, and his winemaking philosophy.  We bought a bottle of each, promised to come back with friends, and drove back down the shaded driveway out to the main road.