It’s fall garden time and our tomato and pepper plants are busy growing under the grow lights. The get a very weak solution of Miracle-Gro as their daily watering. There is also a small fan set on low blowing on them. The grow lights are controlled by an automatic timer and are on for 15 hours a day. They are darker green than they appear because of the red cast from the grow lights.
They are very sturdy due to the gentle breeze from the fan.
The 6 gallon fermenting buckets, having been washed and sanitized, await the addition of the bentonite clay, juice and water.
The new juice kit with yeast added on top. These Island Mist kits include a flavor pac and while the instructions say to add the pac after the fermentation is completed, I always add about half of the pac to the primary fermentation. She who drinks these wines likes them much better that way. The great thing about making your own wines is they can be made to suit the taste of the person who is going to drink that wine.
The juice of the older kit (bought in the spring of 2021) is much darker than the new kit. The yeast packet included with this old kit was past it’s use by date, so I used a new yeast packet along with a dose of yeast energizer. In four weeks we will have the answer as to how the two kits compare.
Back posting after a 9 month hiatus that included a 128 day cruise around the world. My wife, running low on her favorite wine I make for her, smiled when she mentioned that to me. After all these decades of being married to her I know a hint when she gives me one. Until tomorrow….
| Nights out | 143 |
| Number of RV Parks or Campgrounds | 45 |
| Number of nights Moochdocking (Driveway stays) | 2 |
| Shortest length of stay (nights) | 1 |
| Longest length of stay (nights) | 8 |
| Lowest nightly fee | $0 |
| Highest nightly fee | $100 |
| Number of states visited | 15 |
| Number of counties (US and Canada) | 2 |
| Miles driven in the RV | 8052 |
| Gallons of diesel fuel | 599.3 |
| Lowest price per gallon for diesel | 2.96 |
| Highest price per gallon for diesel | 4.99 |
| Miles driven in the Jeep Cherokee | 2553 |
| Gallons of gasoline | 100.8 |
| Lowest price per gallon for gasoline | 2.94 |
| Highest price per gallon for gasoline | 4.31 |
I had promised to post these statistics a long time ago. At least better late than never. And just in case you have wondered just how expensive it is to drive an RV, Sophie averaged 14.4 miles to the gallon for the trip and the total cost of diesel was $2373.16. It just goes to prove the saying: If you have to ask how much it costs to drive an RV, you probably can’t afford to own one.
Obviously this is my last post of 2023, but not so obvious is this is the last post as a Vivaldi blog. I’ve been blogging much of the time since 2005, writing my own html for many years, and also using Blogger several times. Due to the problems with the images posting darker on this site than my originals, I’m going back to Blogger once again because of all the photos that will be posted during our around the world cruise. If you would like to follow along on our cruise the link to the new blog is here. You can click on the blue word “here” at the end of the previous sentence or copy and paste this url https://because-we-can-bob.blogspot.com
