Beer Camp and Bar Progress

 In mid July (yeah yeah, I'm behind as usual) we went to Beer Camp Across America at the Sierra Nevada hop field. Sadly, it wasn't anywhere near as fun as the Single Fresh Wet and Wild event from last fall. First of all, we had to stand in line to get in for more than an hour--which seriously cut into our drinking time, especially since they called last call at about 4:15. Our "noon to five" event time ended up being more like 1:30 to 4:30 Then, there was no shade! They made us stand in full sun. If I'd had any idea they would make us do that, I'd have been better prepared.

Nobody in their right mind stands in full, midday sun in July in Chico. We love the outdoors, and go out in all sorts of weather, but we don't stand in the full sun in July!  Because some of the only shade was around the beer booths, everyone crammed in there so you could hardly get a beer. Karen and Glen at least had hats, and Rick and I finally bought some just so we wouldn't die of the heat.

And speaking of hats, check out this gal's hat. And what's with the banana-suited photo bomber??

In other Sierra Nevada related business, we finally got the posters up on the cabinet doors.

 I had been in the process of putting light, thin coats of spray acrylic over them for protection when it rained! Who thinks it will rain in July? At first I thought they were ruined, but now I'm going for the idea that they look antiqued....I'm going to get some clear acrylic paint to finish them with. We might even get them back on the cabinets someday.

Rick did an excellent job of holding the poster just right and laying it down slowly. I painted the back quickly with ModPodge, then we both worked at getting it laid down smoothly

TomatoMania

It's definitely tomato time. Why did I think I needed so many?! I'm drying, roasting, and freezing as fast as I can.

They are all beautiful tomatoes and every one of them turned out to be real winners.

The Blue Beauties are a spectacular tomato: beautiful, delicious, and fairly firm when ripe (so they last longer).

The Indigo Blueberries are beyond gorgeous, and are turning out to be a good dryer.

There just keep being more!

We made the sign for the outside tomatoes.

And Rick got it installed.

And when we're not eating tomatoes, we're eating peaches. We got a very nice crop off our small Fay Alberta tree.

********************************
Weather Note
I've lived in Chico for 30 years, and I've NEVER seen it rain in July. But this year it did. We had a few sprinkles one day, then we had a solid night and day of rain, when we got just over half inch of rain! But hey, don't worry, we haven't ruined our planet's climate...

***********************************************
Had a nice lunch at Tres with Nancy.