Last time we went to a couple wineries in the area and had a great time. Bought 3 bottles of wine.
And the next weekend we had a business trip. Actually my daughter did. She’s a cheese professional, has several letters after her name. Works for Walla Walla Cheese Co. which is actually located in Milton Freewater, Oregon just 8 miles from Walla Walla. You can order any cheese from them and they’ll ship it to you. My favorite is the Habanero Cheddar but all their cheeses are excellent.
We went to a local winery just 3 miles from home named the Los Rocosos. A boutique winery with a tasting room with a view of the vines. Reason for the trip was that the owners wanted help in pairing their wines with WW Cheese Co. cheeses for a tasting event they had coming up. So daughter brought a bunch of cheese samples along. This is one of the owners in the tasting room for larger groups. We were only 4 so sat at the couches.
My daughter expressing the nuances of her cheese selections. She’d made up that folder with a guide of her suggestions based on the types of wines they made there. Like a true professional. Anyway, at her feet is a satchel of sample sizes of various cheeses which she’d cut up for all of us and then we’d sample the wines offered and then see if any of the cheeses paired well with it. It was the kind of thing I never thought I would end up doing.
The intimate tasting area. I liked the wood work.
Picture looks like it’s mid-fall but it was still summer, but not too hot out.
And here’s Roger and his wife who’s name I’ve forgotten and some of the wine samples. It was fun comparing wines with cheeses and ranking them on suitability of pairing. I forget which pairing was the best but there was one in particular that was an amazing match. Everyone agreed it was the winner.
In other news, in my new2me house, the living room is well, roomy. In one corner sat my daughters 50″ TV and at the opposite diagonal sits my recliner. I found that glass TV stand at Goodwill for $15. Looks good but the TV was just too small for me to see printing very well in different situations, like NFL games or scrolling news at the bottom of the screen. This was mostly due to my eyesight not any fault of the TV. I did find that this brand (Samsung) has a ‘Enlarge Text’ setting which I did use but that doesn’t work for embedded text (like on an NFL game).
So I decided that I needed a larger TV. I’d already measured the space and decided that a 65″ to 70″ was both better suited for that corner of the room and would give me the readability I wanted. Wandering around Walmart in College Place Washington, I found what looked like a brand I could live with, tested it in store, went home and opened up the WM website. And they had an 85″ of the same brand on sale, and I bought it. What? Why? Wallet was bigger than my common sense! And bigger than what I’d already decided! Yes, I can be a dumb arse.
Bought it online because they’d deliver it for free and I could avoid sales taxes that way. Up in WA the sales taxes are 10%! Once it was delivered and set up, WOW, too big for the room.
Look at this thing. Takes up half the wall. What was I thinking. Just over powers the room.
And found that it didn’t have an essential setting for my hearing aid setup like the Samsung did. So, I returned it. Or rather had them pick it up. No charge but still waiting for my ~$900 refund.
Went back a few days later, found a TV I liked, went home and ordered it for $328 online. This time it’s a 65″ TV. Much more suited to the room, and big enough that I can read that text now. In the background it’s the 1st | 4:26 that is all fuzzy on that TV in the background when I’m sitting in my chair.
I’ll clean up the wiring below it soon. It’s a Vizio and turns out Walmart owns Vizio now and you have to have a Walmart account to get it working (there is a work around). I do so sign up wasn’t that difficult. And it doesn’t have the same features the one in the store had. Grrr. I also bought a minimalist TV stand as the TVs feet don’t fit that TV stand. Overhang around 4″.
But it looks good, I’m not all that upset about the Vizio/Walmart setup but it chafes a bit. I got it running the way I want. One of the best features is the station block. Those stations I don’t want I can just ‘tic’ in the list and they aren’t displayed. Many brands have a ‘Parents list’ that you need to use a password for this one doesn’t need that. I’m using it for the unwanted OTA stations now but I can untic all those stations that are volunteered by Walmart too that they get from the internet Wifi connection.
So that’s what’s going on here ATM. Thanks for reading.