Because, this is the road that runs perpendicular to our road. It is a road you take to get to our place. Notice the gravel on the bottom of the picture above? Yeah, that's our road.
All right, enough about that. It was just such a thrill when I drove on it this morning for the first time that I put my windows down and my hands up in the air!
This morning I drove to meet a friend to do some shopping. And whatever you may be thinking, I did NOT make shopping plans to get out of doing more post pounding in the vineyard. Noooo, siree. I wouldn't do that. I just figured since my sister had gotten a really cute piece at Mudd Lake (furniture and decor shop in an old red barn) last weekend, and a fellow blogger mentioned there was a sale this weekend, that I needed to make a trip. And it is a very cool place!
My friend also introduced me to another really cute store near there called Kathie's Finds. A woman, named Kathie (imagine that), has a shop out of her really old farm house. Lots of little rooms filled with Christmas decorations, vintage furniture, crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, timeless treasures, kids toys, and even a kitchen with hot cider and cheese balls and pretzels! Definitely started putting me in the holiday mood.
However, the highlight of my visit to this shop was when I peaked out on the back porch of the shop and saw this guy...
And then I looked a little further in the room and I saw ALL these guys...
Hard to tell in my little snapshot, but there are THREE Great Danes! And I thought we were crazy for having two! Plus, she had two cute little fluffy dogs. Anyway, her Great Danes were huge! Note the little white dog in the corner for measurement comparison. But, look at them! There were tons of folks walking all around their home/this little shop, and they were just hanging out, not bothered one bit, reinforcing to me that these are indeed gentle giants. I just have yet to see this peacefulness with mine. But it gave me a glimmer of hope.
Of course, I tracked down Kathie and ask her about her Danes. She said they go through 10 lbs of food...A DAY!!! Holy cow...what have I gotten mself into?! Can that be right? Maybe she meant in a week. She also said she cooks for her dogs...makes them hamburger, eggs, rice, and carrots. She said it is cheaper than dog food AND very nutritious. Does anyone cook for their dogs? If so, I would like to know. All I've fed my dogs (other than their 5-6 cups a day EACH of IAMS Large Breed Puppy food) is peanut butter. And they go crazy for peanut butter. But, I would love to hear of any good dog "recipes." We'll see if I can rationalize cooking not only for my big eater husband, but also my big eater dogs.
Today was a good day for dreaming...
Someday, we will have our road paved.
Someday, we will get our winery license.
Someday, we'll be able to open up our own "shop" right outside our home, just like the two places I visited today.
Someday, my energetic Great Dane puppies will chill out and they'll be the ones lying on the back porch of our tasting room with visitors admiring them. They'll be perfect gentle giant vineyard greeters.
Someday. Hopefully soon!