More to the Story

The encounter with the snake Saturday was only the beginning of a long day for me in the vineyard. I continued the tying up work in our 5th year Syrah a little shaken and contemplating why that snake didn't bite me. It certainly must have known I was there before I saw it. So, deep in thought, I unwittingly plunged my hand into a bird's nest buried in a vine. When I looked in there was a little brown thing with a huge mouth opened, expecting me to drop a bug inside. I thought, "Oh,great, here's another life I am adversely affecting." I wondered if its parents would now abandon the baby and how I was going to keep it alive. As I was thinking of catching some flies and grinding them up I noticed a pair of adult birds hovering and making noises at me. So, I decided abandoning that area of the vineyard would be easier than parenting a baby bird and moved to the 4th year Syrah. This is where I had an encounter with a red ant. Frightening? No. But definitely painful. It somehow crawled up my pant leg and continued to munch as it marched up my leg. My last encounter for the day was with a fly that flew up my nose. Now, that was uncomfortable but easily expulsed! Oh, the romance of growing wine grapes!