Over The Fence

Walking down to the barn yesterday, I noticed a lone man working in the vineyard next door.  Usually there is a big crew pruning, tying, or whatever else grape vines need, so just one guy was out of the norm.  When he looked up, I said hi and kept going, so it surprised me when he stopped what he was doing and came to the fence, obviously wanting to talk.  Okay, I veered off the path to meet him.  We made some small talk and I mentioned I had met the owners, the young family with the big dogs.  "No, I.  I am the owner!  The family is renting the log house."  Introductions followed and he had a lot of questions, including why was there a gate in the fence between our properties.  I explained that the prior owner of the vineyard used to come over with his brush hog (a huge piece of equipment) to cut down weeds in my south pasture.  It turns out that Sasi is one of five friends in the Bay Area who purchased the vineyard together and that one or the other tries to come on the weekends.  No wonder I've not seen him before and had never seen the family tending the grapes.  It was a nice happenstance meeting.

As the rain held off, I decided to make a run up to Holiday to stock up on some incidentals.  It was to be a quick, in-and-out trip so I didn't bother with makeup, but the thought occurred that, of course, this would almost guarantee that I'd run into someone I knew.  Nah, that wouldn't happen.  I was walking across the parking lot when Arden and another friend I knew pulled in.  Busted!

On the way back to Four Corners (the local term for the only four-way stop on Mt. Aukum Road), a truck was following fairly close.  This is never a good idea up here (or ever, really).  The point was made when a pedestrian turkey broke out of the brush to run across in front of me and I had to either hit the brakes or hit the bird.  Fortunately, Truck Guy had his eyes on the road and didn't hit me, and the turkey lived to be stupid again another day.

The predicted rain began during the night.  There will be no meeting neighbors across the fence today.