I Really Wish

That all of the gardeners on our street would coordinate their schedules and all come on the same day.

Every morning I open up the window in the front room to catch what breeze there is and air out the house a little (not that the air outside is all that fresh, but still ) and every morning I forget that someone's gardener will be out there mowing and leaf blowing. And it's LOUD. And ANNOYING.

I think we are the only house on the street that does not have a gardener because we are too cheap to pay one and we do our own mowing. And instead of leaf blowing we rake.

Anyway.

Last Saturday we drove up to Tehachapi for their Octoberfest. Yes, it's not October yet, but rather still September, but they were getting a head start on beer drinking and bratwurst eating I guess. I thought the fest would be bigger, it was only one block of the main street through town, with bratwurst on one end of the block and beer on the other and in between the usual craft booths and such. The line for the bratwurst (not that I would eat that disgusting stuff) was about 100 people long, so Keith didn't get any bratwurst. We did get a pretzel to share which was tasty, as pretzels always are, and then he wanted a beer and the line for the beer was about 100 people long, and after waiting about 20 minutes and the line not moving because the beer people were only working off of one keg or something and only filling one glass at a time and quite slowly at that, I convinced him that an overpriced mug of beer was really not worth the wait and isn't there someplace in town, a bar or restaurant, where he could get a beer? Not to mention that it was HOT up there and we were standing in the middle of the street with no shade and it was HOT.

So, we left the beer and brat fest and went down the road to our favorite restaurant in Tehachapi for lunch, The Apple Shed, where it was cool inside and they serve beer. He tried a beer from Indian Wells Brewing Co, bottled in Inyokern which I think is out in the desert since the beer is called Mojave Red or Mojave Pale or Gold or something. He got the lighter brew, which he really liked. I had a sip or two and I might start drinking beer again, it was that good. It tasted a lot like a hefeweisen or however you spell that. Put a little lemon juice in there and you've got a tasty beverage.

On Sunday we stayed home since we had spent all our money on Saturday, and Keith is flipping channels while we are eating lunch and comes across a PBS show, Great Performances at the Met or something, and it's La Traviata and he sits there and watches the whole thing. Keith sat and watched opera. And he liked it.

I decided after listening to that for a few hours since I couldn't escape it because he is half deaf and turns the TV up REALLY LOUD that I REALLY DON'T like opera. To me it was a lot of screeching. Like cats fighting. It hurt my ears.