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cat shepard

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  1. Thank you for today’s Report & Daily, Rich! A lovely morning here. Hope it stays like this. Yesterday’s lovely morning turned into a blustery, grey day that was downright chilly on the Coast. Still amazing to watch the waves. And there were even wind surfers out, in spite of the County warning about debris in the water. Roy, thank you for keeping our lists. Enjoying your blog. Today is just the gym, chores and Bindi walks for me. Prayers for all who need our support. Cheers to all who are celebrating! Stay well everyone! ********* Belle Glos 2019 Las Alturas Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands) I would love to try this Pinot Noir. Though it would have to compete with my two current favorites that are significantly cheaper. It is available from several online distributors and one is currently offering it on sale for $32.99. Most others have it priced in the mid $40s or low $50s. Winemaker Notes Deep garnet in color with an aromatic medley of black cherry, marionberry, ripe plum and a hint of anise. Dark fruit on the palate with flavors of wild berries, caramelized oak and cacao nibs complemented by subtle notes of vanilla, cedar and a hint of lavender and forest floor. Rich and unrestrained, this wine’s abundant fruit is beautifully balanced by firm acidity and layers of red and black fruit. WE96 Wine Enthusiast Firm lines of graphite and loamy earth streak through the opulent aromas of black plum and dried violet on the nose of this brooding Pinot Noir. The palate is a whirlwind of exuberance, as leathery tannins wrap around more graphite minerality, dried violet and lavender, stewed plum and a touch of bittersweet cocoa on the finish. V93 Vinous The 2019 Pinot Noir Las Alturas captures all the signatures of the Belle Glos style and yet has quite a bit of freshness too. That makes for a compelling Pinot for readers who enjoy big, large-scaled wines. Sweet spice, rose petal, lavender and spice are nicely kicked up here. Best after 2023 WW91 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com The 2019 Belle Glos Las Alturas Pinot Noir offers a full-flavored experience on the palate. This wine exhibits attractive and substantive aromas and flavors of ripe fruit and oak. Serve it with a juicy, well-marbled, grilled ribeye.
  2. Thank you for today’s Report & Daily Rich. A lovely start to this morning. Bindi and I had a lovely walk. Lots of deer & squirrels out to greet us. Thank for keeping our lists, Roy! Off to the gym, then Aldi. This evening I am meeting friends at the Beachfront Winery. I am not sure what that section of the coast will look like, but at least there was no damage to the road North of the main access road. Prayers for all who need our support! Cheers to all who are celebrating! Stay well everyone! ********* Wagner 2020 Dry Estate Bottled Riesling Another Riesling I would love to try. The Finger Lakes region is not known for its dry wines, I would have to taste it before buying. Though at $12.98 for a bottle, that is cheaper than some glasses of wine that I have seen. Available from several online distributors. Winemaker Notes A beautiful pairing wine that will complement whatever is on your table with a fresh finish and a silky mouthfeel. This wine will continue to unwind beautifully with time in the bottle. This dry Riesling is an outstanding food wine, with nectarine and lime aromas, flavors of citrus and mineral and a crisp clean finish. The opulent fruit is restrained and there is just the right amount of lively acidity to pair beautifully with myriad foods without being bitey. RP90 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate The 2020 Dry Riesling comes in with 4.7 grams per liter of residual sugar, seven grams of total acidity and 12.8% alcohol. Rich, ripe and fruity, this exuberant Dry Riesling lacks a bit of an edge on opening, but that is mostly about perception at the moment. That is, it seems lush, deep and luscious. It tastes great. The acidity is initially hidden, while this is more fruit driven at first. I suspect in time that perception will change a bit. As a test, I kept it open for another hour, and the acidity came through much more clearly. This is still very young and was only in bottle for about nine weeks when tasted. It looks like a winner. It is worth leaning up on this for the moment. WE90 Wine Enthusiast Bright lemony fruit mixes with lime zest and white blossoms in this zesty, dry Riesling. It offers vibrancy and lift thanks to juicy acidity, with a crushed stone note trailing off on the finish. Best Buys
  3. Jenny Thank you all for being at the right place at the right time. 14 lives! You saved 14 lives!
  4. Sandi If your GPS can warn you about I95 problems before you get to 301 in Georgia, you can follow that until Jacksonville. But I would only do that if totally necessary. Once into Florida, Route 1 until you hit the Turnpike is a possibility. But again, I would only do that if necessary. The Turnpike is usually a decent option into the Miami area. But even that can be horrific, when there is a bad accident. Good luck! Ann
  5. Thank you for persevering, Jacqui! I love that Tina @0106 captured you in a couple of pictures!
  6. Linda, I agree with Sandi @StLouisCruisers, you seem so happy in your new life! Good luck in the Chili Cook Off!
  7. Thank you for getting this right! I had the wrong date marked. 😞
  8. @Crazy For Cats Happy Birthday, Jake! May your new year be filled with love, laughter, great health & cruises!
  9. Thank you for today’s Report & Daily, Rich! Thank you for taking us with you, Roy & keeping the lists even on the high seas. Congrats on getting your 5⭐️ Pin! Zumba, gardening, and then an evening get together with friends. The sun is bright in the sky and there is a cool feel in the air. Perhaps Fall has returned. I should save this for Bike Week, but…. Prayers for all who need our support. Cheers to all who are celebrating! Stay well everyone! ******** Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc~Viognier White Blend All released vintages of this lovely wine share the same very good - excellent reviews and reasonable prices. Consumers love it too! This is one of my two favorite white blends. Great for just sipping, or with a meal. I found numerous online distributors with prices starting at $9.99. Wine Enthusiast, 90 This fragrant, stylish blend of Chenin Blanc and Viognier is the type of dry white I wish more California wineries would focus on. Think of a spring flower garden oozing with melon and citrus blossom notes. Fresh, light to medium-bodied, and dry, it is a food-friendly white to enjoy as an aperitif or with food.
  10. Bon Voyage! @summer slope & @StLouisCruisers hope you can share some of your adventures on the Daily!
  11. @CHIEFWINEMAKER Welcome to the Daily! Love your “code name”. Ann
  12. Lenda First, this is the perfect place to rant/vent! You need to release that emotion. And darn, you and Steve have every right to be angry. I hope he doesn’t spend precious energy worrying about what those “other problems” are. He is in the perfect place to find out, so then he can focus on getting better. Keeping you both in my prayers. Ann
  13. Thank you for your service Veterans! Thank you for today’s Report & Daily, Rich! Though sunny and lovely here, I can still see the very outer bands of Nicole rotating off to the West. It is surreal. Bindi was happy not to have to dodge rain this morning. Thank you for keeping our lists & taking us along, Roy! I am heading out to pick up the small branches that are scattered around the yard, then off to the gym for one class. Prayers for all who need our support. Cheers to all who are celebrating. Stay well everyone! ********** Moulin de la Roque 2017 Les Hauts du Vallon Red (Bandol) Provence I would love to try this red. I have enjoyed Mourvèdre as part of a GSM blend, but never as the star of the show. It is a bit elusive, but I found a couple of online distributors with prices starting at $23.99. Distributor notes Moulin de la Roque is our new producer in Bandol making superb value wines. The calling card of Bandol is its noble grape variety Mourvedre: a notoriously difficult variety to ripen. Bandol has 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, with a climate tempered by the Mediterranean wind, the Mistral, allowing the grapes to reach maximum ripeness with freshness. This wine is 95% Mourvedre with 5% Carignan. Black fruits with notes of scorched earth, cocoa powder, Mediterranean herbs with a structure built from powerful tannins and fresh acidity. 93 Wine Enthusiast.
  14. Thank you for today’s Daily, Rich! Bindi and I timed our morning walk perfectly. We did not hit a heavy rain band until we were almost home. The deer, squirrels and local hawks were all taking advantage of the break in the rain. Not to mention my fellow dog walkers. The wind was only bad on the streets that run East - West. Please all keep @JAM37, Julia in your prayers and well wishes. Her condo is in one of the string of 10+ high rises in Daytona Beach Shores. At first only 5 were deemed unsafe, but yesterday afternoon officials had the local police and sheriff personnel go door to door and recommend everyone in all buildings evacuate to a shelter. The fear was if one or more collapsed then the entire section of land would become unstable and unable to support the structures. And this was long before the height of the storm hit. Roy, congrats on having the tropical storm warning/watch lifted South of Jupiter. That will help the port to get up and running. I have no plans for the day. NONE. My efforts will focus on find those perfect opportunities to get Bindi out. And lest we forget that in two weeks we USA citizens will celebrate Thanksgiving… Prayers for all who need our support. Cheers to all who are celebrating! Stay well everyone! ******* Château Bois Malot 2020 Bordeaux Blanc Bordeaux This white Bordeaux blend sounds lovely. It is a bit elusive, but I found one online distributor offering it for a reasonable $11.99. 90 Wine Enthusiast "This rich wine has a high percentage of Sauvignon Gris in the blend. That softens the acidity and adds perfume as well as a ripe pear and spice character. The wine is intense and full, just hinting at herbal acidity at the end. Drink now. -RV" Product Detail CountryFrance RegionBordeaux Sub-RegionWhite Bordeaux Varietal(s)Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Semillon Features Taste: grass, gooseberry, grapefruit, lime, melon, citrus, mineral, flint, apple, lemon, apricot, acidic, fig, pear, saffron and bell pepper Nose: apple, pear, kiwi, citrus, stone, grapefruit, melon, lemon, honeysuckle, spice, floral, apricot, quince, honey, pineapple and cream
  15. Charlene Good to see you! Enjoy yourself, there is nothing you can do. Still not 100% sure where it will make landfall, but I know I will be on the Northeast side, unless something totally unexpected happens. But I should be fine. 🤞🏻 Volusia County just announced that many of the string of high rise condos in Daytona Shores are condemned from Ian’s destructive waves & storm surge. I am not sure if @JAM37 Julia’s is included, but some of the destruction resembles earthquake damage. Entire pool decks and underground parking areas destroyed. I think Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel even showed a couple in one of his reports. There are already parts of A1A closed from surf cresting the dunes and washing over the road and even part of the scenic loop on the mainland side of the Intercoastal is flooded. Several drivers had to be rescued by one of the county’s new amphibious vehicles when the tides came in so fast and high earlier today. The storm won’t peak until tomorrow, but today’s tides might be a bit worse because of Monday’s full moon. Bindi also realizes conditions aren’t going to get any better, so she takes care of business quickly. Ann
  16. I explored with some great companies in these areas. We had amazing weather in Skagway & Ketchikan, but even in the rain our Juneau excursion was great. In Skagway we did a HAL excursion to Haines. Because we knew we would be coming back close to “All aboard” time, we wanted to make sure HAL would wait for us. The name was “Haines Eagle Preserve Float & Wildlife Quest”. We were road the high speed ferry to Haines and the took a bus to the launch point. We were exchanged our shoes for water boots there. There were six of us in the huge rafts and a guide. Cordelia, our guide, even offered each of us a chance at the helm. We only saw about six Bald Eagles, since we did not float down a river where the salmon were running. The warm and sunny day was cold and super windy on the river. But this trip gave us a sense of how wild Alaska can be. The company provided a decent lunch - except for the hot chocolate. In Juneau we did a combination small boat whale watch/hike to view Mendenhall glacier with Gastineau Guiding. There was a small group of sixteen people. Linda was our guide for the entire trip, and she was joined by Nick for the hike. Both were knowledgeable, but Linda had an amazing easy way of imparting a vast amount of knowledge. She also shared a time-lapse video of Mendenhall glacier receding. The whales were the highlight, of course. One is famous and has been named because she has brought a new calf with her for four consecutive years. This was a four hour adventure and I would have loved it to be even longer. In spite of the rain and the raw wind on the water. We were given water and a decent snack on the way to the glacier. We hiked through the rainforest to the shore of the lake that Mendenhall created when it receded. We also took the tram up Mount Roberts in Juneau, but the clouds were so low, the visibility was poor. In Ketchikan we did two private excursions. We did a Misty fjords flight-seeing tour with Island Wings. Michelle the owner/pilot was amazingly knowledgeable about the area and knew just how to show off the beauty of the area. She landed the float plane on an isolated lake and we even got to pick and eat wild blueberries. Then we did a Tongass Rainforest hike. Our young guide was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and clearly was passionate about her chosen field. In addition to walking through the rainforest, we walked along a salmon stream and saw a black bear enjoying its lunch, hundreds of salmon and dozens of gulls. We also toured an abandoned saw mill and visited a totem park where we witnessed an artist carving a totem. I did not record the name of the company, but I bet I could find it, if you liked the sound of this tour. The time of year you go can dramatically change what you experience, but it is such an amazing land I suspect you will enjoy whatever you end up doing.
  17. Jacqui Thank you for sharing José’s tribute with us. It touched my heart and mind. Hugs. Ann
  18. Praise be Lenda! Thank you for sharing the wonderful news!
  19. Melisa Welcome & be safe. Now that you are in Florida, you need to dodge the FEMA trucks, too. I hope the damage to the family home is not too severe. Ann
  20. Thank you for today’s Daily, Rich. Well squalls from Nicole’s long reach have arrived. Bindi did not dawdle on our morning walk. My County is taking this seriously. Ian caused terrible shore erosion and flooding - and we are still dealing with those after effects. Nicole’s 4-6 inches of rain coupled with storm surge and the King tides of the full moon are expected to cause further infrastructure damage. Roy hope you are safely tucked in to your hotel. I found your menu intriguing. Thank you for taking us along with you. Today I get my haircut and then do one class at the gym. The EXACT schedule I had the day before Ian hit! Good thing I am not superstitious. 😎 Prayers for all need our support. Cheers to all who are celebrating! Stay well everyone! ********** Mayacamas 2018 Merlot (Mount Veeder) Napa This Merlot has lots of fans. It has excellent reviews, though it is a bit outside my budget range. I do not usually gravitate towards Merlots, but I would love a taste. A bit elusive, I found several online distributors with prices starting at $58.89. Winemaker Notes The wine opens with lifted aromatics of violet and lavender supported by a lovely fruit set of raspberry, plum, and dried blueberry. Savory tones of dried sage and fresh mint broaden the mid-palate, bringing detail and nuance to the wine’s mid-weight frame. The finish is persistent with lingering notes of red berry fruit, black tea, and dried herbs. Blend: 94% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc WE94 Wine Enthusiast With 6% Cabernet Franc, both it and the Merlot aged in neutral French oak before spending additional time in foudre and barrel, this elegant wine is grippy in its youth, with undeniable structure and elegance. Chalky tannin and earthy iron, dried herb and violet accent beautiful layers of raspberry and plum. Built to age, enjoy best from 2028–2038.
  21. Tina Your pictures are amazing. Some of the detail is exquisite! Thank you for sharing.
  22. Holy cow, Carolyn! A miracle that Beth wasn’t hurt. I bet I would feel a bit shaky if that happened to me. I can imagine what the conversation of the folk who were removing the tree was like! That is some amazing damage.
  23. Linda there might even be a YouTube video that could help.
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