Tasha Tuesday

So, this showed up in the vineyard out back yesterday. It's called VitiBot and it's a driverless vineyard tractor. It spent the whole afternoon plying the vine rows, but not doing anything. I imagine that there are various attachments for whatever jobs it might do, like mowing, plowing, or trimming. I wonder if it can do spraying or harvesting? But for now it looks like trial runs. Oh, here, I don't have to imagine: check it out. The magic of the internet.

Tasha has a close encounter of the third kind.

I don't know how it works. My guess is GPS, but I don't know. At first there were people out walking behind it, but after a while they left it alone while it crawled along, turning around at the end of each row and moving over to the next. One guy stayed in the vineyard, driving a tractor the old fashioned way, spraying the vines to prevent mold. I think he was also keeping an eye on the blue beast. Tasha was curious (something new!) and ran right up to it, barking. The "bot" ignored her. Thankfully, she turned around and came back to me when I called her. I hope that the machine would sense obstacles (animals or people) in its path and stop moving. We shall see.

A little frost

I took this photo a week ago. It was our last frost (so far) and it was very light. Frost only showed up in the shadier places. The just-above-freezing temperature didn't seem to be a threat to the growers, at least around us.

A touch of frost on young blackberry brambles.

We're entering the series of May holidays as school spring vacations wrap up. This week, Wednesday the first is Labor Day, a national holiday. Next week we'll have May 8, the anniversary of Germany's surrender in WWII, and May 9, Ascension Day. Both are holidays in France. Then, almost two weeks later, is Pentecost Monday, also a holiday in France. After that there are no more days off until summer vacation starts in July.

Wild orchid

Wild orchids are abundant (or seem to be) in the margins of the vineyards and in near-by fields. They even pop up in our back yard but, with a few exceptions, they eventually get mowed down with the grass.

A wild orchid. There's a spider's web just visible in the background.

Yesterday's rain did stop me from going to the market in the morning. Or, rather, the rain was my excuse. I really didn't feeling like going at all. It rained off and on most of the day, then the bottom dropped out after sunset. We had a couple hours of continuous moderate rain, then it suddenly stopped at bed time. Earlier in the evening, I built a fire in the wood stove to warm things up.

Grape buds

These buds will become flowers and, in turn, grape bunches. Provided that a freeze doesn't stop them from developing. So far, so good. Our morning lows have struggled back upward reducing the risk of a damaging freeze. After a couple more weeks we should be clear of frost danger.

Future wine.

Tasha has gained a little weight, so the vet said to keep an eye on her and try to reduce her caloric intake. She's already on a diet kibble for her daily lunch meal after a breakfast of half a small pouch of wet food mixed with grated zucchini. I guess we've been a little too loose with scraps and tid-bits from our own cooking. No more! We can't risk her weight contributing to another torn ligament.

Wet weekend ahead

Looks like rain will be moving in later today and staying with us through the weekend. So much for getting more grass cut. I did the north forty yesterday afternoon, so at least there's that. As usual, it was much easier to cut the second time than the first.

I'm just a dandy lion.

Tasha has her annual vet visit this afternoon. A quick checkup and her shots and that'll be that for another year. Next month she has a grooming appointment. It will be six months since her last grooming, probably a month or two too long. I need to get her into a four month schedule. She's looking like a clydesdale around the ankles.

The inside scoop

The inside of a tulip, that is. The two volunteer tulips out back are close to loosing their petals now. I'll miss them.

One of two volunteer tulips in the back yard.

I'm ready for some warmer weather. I built a fire in the wood stove yesterday and that helped to take the chill off. I might do it again today.

Les ancolies

These are columbine, I believe. Ancolies in French. Pink ones like this, and others that are blue, come up every year in our daisy patch. This year there are fewer of them than usual, and I don't see any blue ones yet.

Ancolies.

Our friend and neighbor, Bernard, was laid to rest in our local cemetery yesterday. The ceremony was sober and brief. I teared up a bit when the casket was lowered into the ground. At the end, attendees were invited to sprinkle rose petals on the casket, a custom in France but not one that I remember back in the US. Bernard's family hosted a reception afterward at their house across the road from us. A very nice affair, filled with memories and laughter. There must have been thirty or so cars parked all around. It was good to see people we've met over the years but haven't seen in a while. Among them, a young woman, one of Bernard's many granddaughters, who remembered us from when she was four years old.