Local Winery

We woke up Saturday morning to another sunny day in California with no cloud in the sky (which is typical). Mom and Dad decided that today would be the perfect day to visit a winery. I was not invited since I am not of drinking age.

They went to the 4th largest winery in the WORLD. After partaking in a little wine tasting, they went on a tour.

These grapes are going to be ready to be harvested next week.

They saw grape vines after grape vines. The tour guide said that it only takes 10 gallons of water for an acre of grape vines per year. I guess that's why vineyards thrive in California.

After the grapes are harvested, which takes place at night because of the cooler temperatures, they are crushed and stored in these huge holding tanks to ferment.

When this winery was first established in 1930s, they used these containers wrapped in redwoods to store the crushed grapes for the fermentation process.

The tour guide said that when it was time to clean these storage containers, a retired jockey would squeeze into this opening in order to hose down the inside of these holding tanks.

Bikes are the primary mode of transportation at the winery because it does not stir up the dust in the vineyards. Mom and Dad said that the bikes looked out of place amongst all of the other high tech machinery.

Then they went into this warehouse, which is kept at a cool 50 degree temperature, filled with 57,000 barrels of wine for the aging process.

Each barrel hold 59 gallons and is made of oak. The barrels cost in the range of $600 to $2,000 and are only used once because that is where the wine gets most of its flavor. Then, they are sold off for about 20 bucks. Talk about depreciation!

Mom and Dad stayed in this warehouse for quite some time because it was nice and cool after being outside in the heat.

Then, they went to see a cork tree.

The bark is where cork comes from for the wine bottles. Only approximately 20% of the bark is usable though.

Sounds like Mom and Dad had a good time and learned a lot about the wine making process. I bet they will sleep well tonight but Mom says that she still does not care for the taste of wine. It reminds her of the cough syrup that her grandmother used to make her take a teaspoon of whenever she had any kind of ailment.

My First Play Date

When we moved into our new apartment, the manager informed Mom that another tenant owns two Italian Greyhounds, which are basically "Mini-Me's" (Think of a dog shaped just like me only approximately half my size.) Mom finally meet this tenant and fell in love with her two dogs. They arranged a play date at the local dog park.

Meet Axle (on left) and Dash (on right), who are brothers and Fresco (behind them).

Fresco is a friend of Axle's and Dash's. He and his owners joined us at the dog park. Fresco loves that tennis ball and would play fetch all day long, despite the 106 degree weather at 6:30 in the evening.

Here's Dad playing with Axle. Yes, Dad got a hairCUT.

Fresco and Dash are anxiously waiting for the tennis ball to be thrown. Italian Greyhounds have a lot more energy than I do. I just watched them play and enjoyed all of the attention of their dog owners.

Now, it is time for a nice 8 hour nap.

Good night.

Taco Truck

Every since we moved to California, Mom has been commenting on the number of taco trucks she sees parked in various parking lots. A taco truck in California is the equivalent of an ice cream truck in Alabama (They have ice cream men here who push carts selling ice cream instead of a truck.) Rather than driving around neighborhoods to sell ice cream, taco trucks park in certain areas to sell authentic Mexican food. Dad says that the people at school call taco trucks the "roach coach" and they buy Mexican food from the taco truck during their breaks. Since Dad does not eat Mexican, Mom has been wanting to order from the taco truck but has been intimidated by it because the workers only speak Spanish. However, her new co-workers go to the taco truck on occasion so Mom went with them.

As you can see, the menu is a little different than most Mexican restaurants back home.

Yes, they do sell "head" and "tongue" as a choice of meat. Even as a dog, that is disgusting.

Mom, Shamayne, Kerri, and Marie went to the more "upscale" taco truck with a pavilion and tables set up to eat. Most of them are just the truck out in the middle of a parking lot.

Mom had a good time and could only eat half of the HUGE burrito. Most Fridays, she and her co-workers go out for lunch which allows her to try different local restaurants (since Dad is not willing to venture out) while getting to know her co-workers.

F.Y.I. - Fridays are casual days (not that scrubs are dressy by any means).

Our New Humble Abode

After returning from our vacations on Saturday, we moved into our new apartment on Sunday so that Mom can start her new job assignment on Monday. It is a good thing that Mom and Dad had already packed up everything before they left.

We just so happened to move on the hottest day of the summer when it was 107 degrees.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my chair again.
(Dad - not so much because he does not like the red furniture.)

Here's our spacious kitchen.

This is where I will be sleeping!

We were fortunate enough to receive a two bedroom two bath apartment this time. So, here's my very own room!

I became exhausted watching Mom and Dad unpack. I took a nice little nap. . .

. . . only to wake up and find that Mom and Dad put all of THEIR junk in MY room!

Don't worry - they cleaned it up.

Here's the complex fitness room, overlooking the pool.

This is my very own "dog park". Too bad that I am the only dog (but that is how I prefer it).

Well, this has been a tiring week. Returning from vacation . . . Moving . . . Mom starting a new job and Dad starting his new classes. But, I think that we will like it here.

Last Day of San Diego

This is the last day of their week long trip. Grandmother, W.H., Aunt Allison, Uncle Mark and Harrison's flight was a lot earlier (and longer) than Mom and Dad's flight. After dropping them off at the airport and saying their goodbyes, Mom and Dad decided to spend the morning at the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit in Balboa Park. Grandmother and W.H. went the day before and talked about how interesting it is, making Mom and Dad think that they might enjoy it too.

When I hear the word "Leonardo DaVinci", I automatically think about Mona Lisa or the Lord's Supper paintings. After hearing Mom and Dad discuss what all they learned, DaVinci was not only a painter ahead of his time but also an inventor. Relying solely on materials that were available in the 15th-century in Italy, he designed various modes of transportation, military warfare tactics, and mechanical inventions.

This airplane glider was one of his most famous inventions, but it is believed that it was never flown. I guess DaVinci himself and his companions did not trust his designs THAT MUCH to be the first to attempt to fly using this contraption. I do not blame them.

This was the first paddle boat. Everything was made from wood since that was all he had available to him during the 15th century. He also invented a wooden bicycle with wooden wheels.

This is called the Tank and was Grandmother's favorite. Basically, it was designed to roll into the enemy's camp with the top down and then fire these canons, surprising the enemy. However, it was flawed due to the difficulty of maneuvering this heavy wooden machine and the people firing the canons would have become deaf since they are so close in proximity. I guess even the best of inventors still do not always think things through sometimes.

Leonardo DaVinci also came up with ways to make work easier and machines last longer. He is the one who thought of using a pulley to lift heavy loads and three-ball bearings to decrease friction caused by objects rubbing together, preventing machines from breaking down over time.

This robot was Mom's favorite design. It has the ability to anatomically correctly open and close it's jaw, sit up, wave it's arms and move it's head by the use of hidden pulleys. The robot was probably used to entertain DaVinci's royal guests. I would have been entertained (more like scared) by it, especially during the 15th century.

All of this education made Mom and Dad hungry so they decided to go back to the Gas Lamp District for lunch. As they ate sandwiches, they enjoyed people-watching and the wonderful 70 degree weather.

Then, Mom and Dad decided to see some of Downtown San Diego's waterfront.

They enjoyed watching all of the activity on the water and then took a nice little nap in the car, relaxing with the cool breeze.

During a short flight, they could see Sacramento's skyline. Mom said this is the only way to see the skyline because the land is completely flat. The only "hills" are going up the interstates overpasses.

The plane landed at 7:30 pm and Mom and Dad stepped outside in the stifling 102 degree weather. They described it as walking into an oven.

They missed me so much they came by my doggy hotel to pick me up before they went home. I was sure glad to see them and definitely missed my chair.

Day 7 - Balboa Park

Yet, another beautiful day in San Diego (but everyone was sad because this is their last full day). Since a park is bound to cheer you up, everyone decided to visit Balboa Park, the nation's largest urban cultural park.

First on the agenda was to see Body World, a traveling exhibit of preserved human bodies and various body parts. These bodies were positioned as if the person were in motion, engaging in activities such as ice skating, hitting a baseball, etc. One of the bodies were split into different sections as it went through a paper shredder. No photos were allowed in the exhibit but Mom gave me more detail about the exhibit than I care to know. Grandmother was a little leery of seeing Body World, however; she and W.H. enjoyed the exhibit the most. Aunt Allison was the narrator of course.

Since there are 15 major museums in the park, everyone decided to split up.

Aunt Allison and Mom went to the Japanese Friendship Garden, seeking some peace and quiet.

As you can seen, Harrison is calm as he strolls through this Zen-filled garden.

Uncle Mark and Dad went to the Automotive Museum, displaying over 80 classic and historically significant cars and motorcycles. However, Dad was slightly disappointed in this exhibit.

Then, the five of them went to the Model Train Museum, which is the world's largest operating model railroad museum. There were so many different model trains that this picture does not capture it all.

Uncle Mark and Harrison sure did enjoy it.

Well, I bet you are wondering what W.H. and Grandmother did during this time. They went to an exhibit about Leonardo da Vinci. (More on this exhibit later.)

I feel sorry for Harrison. It's exhausting providing the entertainment.

He does not seem to mind it though.

Here's Mom and Dad in front of one of the fountains at Balboa Park.

Aunt Allison and Uncle Mark in front of one of the many historic buildings.

To cool off, everyone decided to go to the Gas Lamp District for some ice cream.

Gelato to be exact.

Harrison ate the majority of Aunt Allison's because she was the only person willing to share. Everyone else was too busy being selfish, eating it all. Mom and Dad said it was delicious!

Ice cream and a day at the park - life could not get any better than this.

Too bad all good things must come to an end.