All,
Ok, it only took me 5 months to post something. We really do have an interesting life. I am just not a great blogger.
I am sure many of you (or perhaps most) know that Mary and I sold out our share of Three Rivers Winery this past February. Actually, we really had no choice. So, I have had a six month vacation (?) to do many things that needed to be done around our place, including pulling out 6 (of 7.5 total) acres of our vineyard. Pulling it out is actually simplifying a very labor intensive project. It took me 6 weeks of 8 hour days to completely take out the vines, irrigation system, and trellis system (including posts and support wires). Anyway, we decided to reduce the size of the vineyard for several reasons, but primarily because of the annual work involved of maintaining it for very little return.
Mary and I, along with our daughters, Christie and Mollie, are now fully recovered from our winery ownership days. We are all either back to college or employed in other jobs now. Mary has been working as the Director of Marketing for a senior living center in Walla Walla. Mollie is back to the Univ. of Idaho for her sophomore year. Christie has decided to take a year off (staying in Moscow, Idaho) to work and get focused on a culinary/business degree and career. And, I have taken a new job as the Executive Director of the Southeast Washington Economic Development Assoc. (SEWEDA), which is a four-county region adjoining the Walla Walla Valley to the east and northeast of where we live now. I just started this past week and have been commuting two hours (one way) to Clarkston, Washington, so I have been putting a lot of road time. Eventually, I will be working out of Dayton, Washington, which is about 30 minutes from where we live now. One of the requirements of the position is that we live within the region, so over the next few months (?) we will be selling our home and Biscuit Ridge Vineyards, and moving to the Dayton area.
Although my new position is with a non-profit organization, we do receive state and federal funding. So, the position is quasi-political and I do receive a fair amount of media coverage. I thought I'd pass along a news story that appeared on a television station out of the Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, Washington area this past week. Notice how profound (and old) I appear. You should be able to link directly into it by clicking on the following. http://www.klewtv.com/news/61583387.html
Hope all is going well for everyone! God bless.
Duane