Ayer, per la noche, estaba tomando con mi esposa. Teniamos vino blanco (chardonnay) de Brutocao. Hay Dios mio, que bien era el vino…

But I digress (as I usually do when speaking Spanish). I think I had a little too much to drink last night and I was still feeling the effects of it this morning.

It all started with nice weather
Dadgum that blasted beautiful sunshine. The weather was perfect for anything that you’d want to do (except maybe skiing). We decided that we wanted to barbecue, so after we got Sarah home from a church engagement I fired up the grill and started getting ready to cook.

Thinking that one fire was not nearly enough to have a wonderful evening, I decided I would stoke up a fire in our outdoor fireplace (basically a black firepit that looks like a fireplace). So I loaded a few logs on there, got a piece of a starter log on there and lit it. And it went out. So I lit it again. And it went out again.

Brief side note:
There are times in mans life when he really needs to exercise manishness. A time like this call for my friend Ray. He always knows how to make things work. Without question, he has either seen someone do it or he himself has done it. And it is always in a way that makes no sense initially, but after you see it working, you look at it and think “That make perfect sense.” Thanks Ray for the inspiration. I needed you tonight and I think I got a little bit of your sensibility…

Suddenly I had a flash of brilliance! I thought, lets wrap the starter log in newspaper since that is about how they come from the store. So I did. And believe it or not… it worked. It took a while, but finally I got the starter log to stay lit. Then after about an hour, the wood logs actually maintained a flame. You see, I forgot that this wood has been out in the rain for the last six months. Oh well, wood is wood, right, and wood burns, so…

Anyway, after a while, I had managed to get a few logs burning, and I had a raging fire without the need for gasoline. The kids were enjoying it, but it was getting late so I had the kids come in while I messed with the logs and really got the fire going. I asked my wife if she would like to join me outside by the fire while we toast one another with some wine. She said she would join me as soon as Extreme Makeover Home Edition was done (she wanted to see the house). So I went outside, set up some chairs and poured our glasses.

I drank mine.

Then I drank another. And another.

All in all, I drank five glasses of white wine last night. I never do that. Especially if it is white. In fact, I have never had more than three glasses of wine in less that an hour in my whole life! And last night I took down five in about 45 minutes. And was I ever loopy.

I could barely walk straight. I had to go lay down. Which I did. Then promptly fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at about 1:30 this morning wondering where I was, then realized I was on the couch, so I went to bed where I remained until this morning when I woke up. Still feeling a little wobbly. But better. Enough so, at least, to get myself to work.

So I guess if there is a lesson to learn in all of this (and there wasn’t originally, but if you want one, here it is) it is ‘Don’t drink a lot really fast late at night before you have to be up early and at work soon thereafter. And say 17 Hail Mary’s and ask the priest to sprinkle holy water on your sunflowers. I hear it helps them grow.

FTR: -19/9