In all that we do at the vineyard, with the dogs, with friends and family, in our daily activities, ideas and dreams, and reflecting on where we've been, there is a little voice in the back of my head that speaks up occasionally and says, "Oooh, oooh....pay attention! This could be good blog material. Work with this, Ashley, work with this." And I'll spend my afternoons pruning grapevines while composing my next blog post in my head.
The problem is that these stories floating around in my head are not directly connected to my keyboard. Maybe someday in the future that won't be a problem, but here in 2010, it is. Imagine how efficient I could be if I could telepathically post a story on this blog while multi-tasking. But alas, I can't.
I am telling you this because for the past several months, I have intended on several occasions to set aside a good chunk of time, so that I can thoughtfully craft these stories into written form for you. But that "chunk of time" doesn't happen as I always plan. I've been meaning and wanting to tell you things like:
What we have learned recently about the history of our property and the chaos and excitement that surrounded our own lives when we came to acquire it ourselves...
How we plan to blaze our own trail of history here...
How we would spend $1M in a jiffy if we won the lottery...
The day Aaron almost put me in a straight-jacket because I had a little temper-tantrum in the vineyard when, upon finishing de-suckering and training up all 82,943 Marquette vines (okay, maybe 1500), I went back to the first row and saw they had grown so much, I needed to start all over again. It's like running in place. All I have to say is, they better darn well make some spectacular wine, because those are the most rigorous growing plants I have ever seen. And they will. I'm convinced my nurturing of these vines will lead to nothing but perfection...
A little bit about Aaron and Ashley's individual roots as a strawberry picker and a bowling alley rat. Guess which one is who...
Pictures of my farmer's tan vs Aaron's farmer tan and why I opt for flip-flops as my farm fashion footwear....
The latest antics of Tux and Belle...
JUST when I think I can carve out some time to tell you some of these stories, I get a little distracted by things like:
Getting down to the root issue and cause of why, suddenly, neither one of our dogs will eat out of their silver dog dish or even a yellow bowl, but they will both eat out of the red dish. I still don't know, but am completely puzzled by the fact they can catch a flying bird in their mouth while running through the vineyard (I actually witnessed it), eat it whole, but will then come inside and snub their noses at particular dog dishes.
Trying to keep up with pop culture, the latest gossip on the Real Housewives, and form an opinion on whether I am Team Jacob or Team Edward so that I can participate in normal conversation with other women rather than ramble on about zucchini and which maternity overalls I want to buy for my vineyard attire this fall. (Team Edward by the way...as I just finished reading the series)!
Taking an afternoon to harvest the entire garden and then deliver bags full of zucchini, cucumbers, and beans to our neighbors...
Cleaning out our much needed over-stuffed closets to get things ready for the charity pick-up truck...
Taking a roundtrip road trip from Minneapolis to Chicago in 36 hours flat...
Picking out cucumber salad and endless salsa recipes, and trying to decide what to do with 15 lbs of green beans besides freezing, canning, or eating all of it.
Deciding a month ago, after having our architect friend come out to visit and getting us dreaming, that we might try to put a rush on an addition to our one bathroom, one car garage farmhouse and start with a new garage and mudroom this fall....
Then deciding that may be too rushed...
Deciding to focus on re-doing our landscaping out front...
Then stepping back and re-designing our whole ideal house plan...
And while we were at it, re-designing our winery building...
Then changing our mind three times...
Then deciding to turn our existing house into a guest house, buy the land adjacent to us, and build a brand new house...
And winery...
Then deciding that we will just build a brand new winery building, throw a few cots in there and call it home too...
Then researching a trip to Hawaii because that just sounds like fun and totally unpractical right now...
Then signing up for a get rich quick scheme...
Wait, this wasn't really supposed to be my post on how we would spend a $1M in a jiffy...
And when we take a break from thinking about all of these amazing plans and how we can make it all work in the long run, I spend time on baby name websites, obsessing about them and relentlessly making Aaron talk about them even though he has declared several times he would prefer not to discuss names until we know if it's a boy or a girl, which we will in a month...hopefully...
Aaron returning an equally antagonising conversation by making me discuss at length exactly how many feet of trellis wire (which he measures in miles) we need to buy this year, when I have told him he can calculate that himself, while I spell out baby names in cursive on my notebook.
Getting ready for having house guests three out of the four weekends in August and wondering how many frozen zucchini lasagnas I can fit in our freezer for such occasions...
And tonight. Tonight it is about figuring out how a former uptown girl, living in the country, is going to drive her Jeep with a trailer to her corporate job in the city tomorrow to pick up a couch she found on sale over her lunch break, when she has never driven a car while pulling a trailer ever before in her life...
Maybe this post gives you some perspective. Maybe after reading this you want to put me in a straight jacket too. Regardless, what I am trying to tell you, is I have a lot I want to share and one of these days, when I can figure out how to escape to a desolate island and just write, I will share these stories with you. Thanks for your patience and continued support!
