Red Robin, Red Robin

I haven't been slacking off in the plant and garden department.  My geraniums and petunias have been growing under lights in the basement since January.

Yesterday I transplanted the petunias, marigolds, dill, some of the peppers and my Red Robin tomatoes.  Ripe tomatoes in another month!  I am very happy with the Red Robin tomatoes.  They will start to bloom and set on tomatoes in an 8 inch pot.  I keep transplanting them into larger pots and they just keep growing.  Last year they produced tomatoes until October. 

I have started my other tomatoes and peppers for the garden, lobelia, alyssum and my begonias.  All are still in the starting stage and won't need to be transplanted to larger pots for another week.

2011 Red Robin Tomatoes

Remember how good a real ripe tomato tastes?   No, not one of those half ripe, hard as a rock store-bought ones.  A real tomato that ripened on the vine.  Yeah, I know, they try to sell us those "on the vine" ones too, but the taste still isn't there.  It won't be long and we'll be eating our fresh home-grown veggies once again. 

Can you hear Beethoven's Ninth?

I didn't get fired!  I'm still on the trail crew and it's day three.  We are two thirds of the way down the trail so we will only need one more day of work and it will be finished.

Looking up from the 1st switchback

Photo taken looking down at the 2nd switchback

Maggie on the turn at the 1st switchback

Retired Mountain. Man is almost to the 2nd turn

It was a beautiful day.  Sunshine and about 55 degrees.  Last evening I heard the frog's singing in the swamp for the first time this year. I think they were performing their version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  It's wonderful to listen to.  The Frog Chorale with the sounds of Cougar Creek rushing down the mountain in the background.  Welcome to Spring 2012.

I have included a clip of a performance of Beethoven's Ninth.  Enjoy.

New Game Cam Photos and Trail Crew Qualifications

These are some of the latest photos from Retired Mountain Man's game camera.  There were no deer this time, only elk.  Darn.

We have sunshine today so we are back on the trail crew.  It's the dirt work now.  I will try to post more trail photos tomorrow.  Hopefully, we will have dug out the trail enough that you can actually tell it's a trail. 

Retired Mountain Man is definitely the trail crew boss, as I have never done this before.

If you remember this post,  He is One of Those Guy, Guys, then you know that building a switchback is a piece of cake for Retired Mountain Man.  On the other hand, for me it's another story. I have spent plenty of time digging in the dirt in my gardens though, so I feel I have enough experience for this job.   (I hope I perform well enough that I don't get fired)

"Making wine is like having children, you love them all, but oh yes, they are different." Bunny Finkelstein, Judd Hill Winery

The time has come.  The final wine tasting was today and the judgment is that all three carboys are ready for the bottle.  This year we have an elderberry wine,  a peach/pear wine and an apple/pear wine.   They were started last fall  (October 2011 Wine Making)  and have been in cold storage for the last 5 months. 

The peach/pear wine has a beautiful color and dry fruit flavors.  The elderberry has a very rich berry flavor and a dark burgundy color..  The apple/pear has a beautiful clear straw color and a light dry crisp taste.  All three are very drinkable wines. 

I finished removing the labels and washing the last 25 bottles and now have 75 clean wine bottles ready to go.  I added the ingredients to stop any possible  fermentation which means we should be ready to bottle in a couple of days. 

I wonder if the Forest Service is hiring people for their trail crew?

We're still here.  Moving slowly.  It took us approximately an hour to saw and clear our way down the hillside.  I tried to take photos as we worked our way down the mountain, but it was difficult to get a shot that really showed what we were doing.

We began by sawing out some limbs that had fallen on the existing trail.  Maggie was totally confused about what we were doing.  Why weren't we just walking down the trail?  What's with all this stopping and sawing and picking up brush? 

The first switchback.

It's not too bad.  The slope is not real steep on this leg.

Now we're going down.  See my blue jacket up on the first leg of the trail?

The second switchback.  I am the brush clearer, picker upper, and thrower over the hillside person.  I am falling behind in my job in the picture below.  Retired Mountain Man has left me a lot of brush.

We've got a big chunk of a rotten tree to cut out of here.

This is the first leg of switchback number three.  I am already at the turn and I am looking back up the hillside.

The last leg of switchback three as it turns and goes up the hillside.

Ta da!  We're back at the existing trail  which continues down the hillside.

A couple of more views as I walked back up the new switchback.