Meet the Fraurer Kitten

We got a kitten a week ago. Lots of fun and entertainment. We were told that it was a girl, but yesterday the vet informed us that this little fuzz bucket is actually a boy. So as much as we liked the name Alta, we decided it was a more girl name than boy name. Which means that Thor is an option again, although we are leaning towards Zin. He is a winery kitty after all.

The Traditional Archery Journey Continues

I have been attempting to get a rabbit this winter with my traditional bow and recently...I succeeded! The Homer area has experienced a rabbit boom this year so they are plentiful. I have been going on walks around the neighborhood getting attuned to the habits of the rabbits. I have certainly had some failed attempts and flung arrows that did not meet their mark over the past few weeks but fewer than I would have thought. This particular rabbit did not make it easy. I had to perch in a tree to get elevated enough to have a shot over a hump and initially only the rear 3/4's of the rabbit presented a shot. I ended up shooting wide and spooked the rabbit. Lucky for me he only moved five feet or so and presented a similar shot but this time it was its head 3/4's that was exposed. I shot my second arrow and it found its mark. Rabbit stew for dinner! This is the first animal that I have taken with my traditional bow and it was very satisfying. I kept the skin so that I can try to tan it and maybe make some slippers. The fur has tons of soft down in it seeing how it is winter time.

Happy trails to everyone.

Winery new building

Here are just a few pictures of the new production building for Bear Creek Winery. It is a beautiful timber frame shop, just up the road from the original building. The tasting room isn't moving, just the production side of the business. There isn't enough room to make and store all the wine they need to meet demand at the original site. So far, they have only moved in cases of wine that were made in the original building, but in the very near future they will start making wine almost exclusively in this new building.
As you can see the building gets lots of natural light. Our days are now about 11 hours long, equinox is just a week away. They have a forklift to move around pallets of wine, which is a lot better than moving them by hand.
The wall behind the forklift in this photo opens to the space that will have a walk in freezer for all the berries. Right now there are many pallets of wine being stored back there.

The forklift has been jazzed up with this spiffy Bear Creek Winery decal.
Here is a picture of most of the Bear Creek Winery crew, missing are two of the winter employees and my Grandma who makes lunches for everyone. They are standing in front of even more cases of wine along the opposite wall of the shop from the last pic. The building has a lofted office space too. It is going to be a different summer with the new building up and running. Between people coming in the door for tastings and the distributors orders they keep busy around here. It is awesome to go into Fred Meyers and see Bear Creek Winery bottles on the top shelf of their liquor store!