Spotted this sign at a local winery. Yet another take on COVID stuff.
I guess there are different ways to establish the six feet of social distance.
Author: Roadtirementvintage
First rose blooms this year
Our rose bush out front is putting on some blooms.
Hopefully we’ll get a lot of pretty roses this year. It seems like the rose bushes are getting ready to really pop!
Trying out Mallow Run Winery
A hot sunny day with no rain in sight so we decided to try a new (to us) local winery. The Mallow Run Winery near Bargersville, Indiana has been open to the public since the early 2000’s. The land where the grape arbors stand have been in the family since 1824, and is a Hoosier Homestead Farm.
Coming off of Whiteland Road you pass through perfectly manicured grape arbors. When you reach the tasting room you are immediately impressed with the barn structure. The original hand hewed timbers were salvaged from and repurposed from the 1824 barn.
The tasting is free for up to four samples, which of course is a great deal and not that common anymore. Sher and I tried different and in a couple of cases the same wines. One we really were interested in was the rhubarb wine. The wine is sweet, but with the distinctive rhubarb taste.
Beautiful arbors
Outdoor stage
Mallow Run Winery has a beautiful outdoor stage and lawn area behind the barn. There is a full set of summer concerts planned for the 2021 season. We will defiantly be taking in one of the concerts. Our hostess shared that there will be wine slushies available for the concerts!
We decided to purchase two bottles of wine. We did go for a bottle of the rhubarb wine, and in addition, we got a bottle of “Picnic Red”. There were other wines on the list that we tried, some we liked, some we didn’t. However we think that along with the concerts, we’ll be returning for more wine. Click here for the Mallow Run website.
Could have been embarrassing
Sher and I see it everyday: squirrels hopping from tree to overhead lines and back again. This morning we saw a juvenile squirrel almost miss.
This fellow was going from the tree branch to the immediate left over to the wire. Usually a small stretch is all that’s required. He missed getting his back legs on the wire, and he ended up in the position you see. A little struggle and he was successfully on his way down the wire.
Flowering chives
These chives are volunteer from last year and have put on some beautiful purple flowers
Brood X cicada invasion is in our backyard
Ok, maybe one cicada sighting doesn’t rate “invasion”, but we have been waiting for these ugly things to emerge. Brood X is the designation given to this bunch of cicadas, who have been underground for 17 years. You can read all about them just about everywhere.
It was long after dark when we spotted one hanging on a tarp that we had over some stuff on a couple of card tables. The cicada is crawling out of its now hard shell.
Starting to leave its shell
Doing a back bend to get out
This morning the cicada was beside its now abandoned shell. Usually they are on tree trunks at this point, but this guy ended up on a green tarp.
Finally free, its just chilling
Side view: you can see details of the cicada and its abandoned shell
Like I said, we’ve been waiting for the cicadas to emerge. The weather has been hot enough that the soil should have been warm enough a couple of days ago. Oh well, at least things are starting to happen. It will remain to be seen how many cicadas will emerge in our yard, or in our town. And maybe this one we have will start producing that loud obnoxious sound today.
A stay in the hospital
The view out of my hospital room
About a week ago I began to get a low grade fever (less than 100.7). In addition, my oxygen saturation dropped below 95, though never lower than 90. I called my pulmonologist reporting what I was dealing with.
A couple of days later his office called, and I reported the same conditions. The doctor said it was time for me to go the the ER and “get evaluated”. So Sher and I headed to the ER.
Long story short, after tons of tests, blood work, X-Rays and a CAT scan they finally figured out I had lactic acidosis and pneumonia in my lower left lung. They admitted me of course. I had two bags of antibiotics by IV after they admitted me. I spent the night, not getting much sleep at all. They love to wake you up in the middle of the night to “check your vitals”.
I ended up spending two days and one night in the hospital. My oxygen saturation was over 95, and I did not have a fever anymore, so they let out in the afternoon of the second day. I’ll have to see my GP soon, and they sent me home with some more antibiotics to take. Hospital stays are no fun, but thankfully they were able to find out what was wrong, and then treat it.
Feeding frenzy, starling style
Today the juvenile starlings were at it again: following parents around everywhere looking for the food handout. Today the youngsters figured out that they didn’t have to stay on the ground. Looking at the short video, you can see the gray colored youngsters in the tree, waiting for the parents to grab a piece of the suet and then feed them.
The din produced by the constant loud squawking of the youngsters was there all morning.
Next door beauty
Pretty flowers next door in our neighbor’s garden
Ready for an afternoon of bird watching
It is a beautiful day partly sunny pretty warm but nice in the shade with a slight breeze. Lots and lots of birds today should be a wonderful afternoon of birdwatching.
Roadtirement 