So four weeks to the day that my cat Fido died, my other cat Tulum fell down a flight of stairs.
Cats do not fall down flights of stairs, unless they have muscle wasting due to age (check) and complications from kidney disease (check).
Cheers to my dad for driving us to a 24-hour veterinary hospital in south Philly, because I was too freaked out to fathom driving myself. He is a four star dad and cat Pop-Pop, and will be getting a big bottle of the pinkest blush wine I can find.
Tulum and I got home at 11 Wednesday night, and I’m waiting for test results to come back. I had already scheduled a long overdue checkup for him for this coming week (welp, did a great job on that timing), so I think I’m just going to wait and not subject him to more poking and prodding than is absolutely necessary.
And how was your week?
You know who else isn’t having a great week? Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. According to this NBC News report, a gas-fired power plant owned by the private equity firm Atlas Holdings and operated by Greenidge Generation LLC is chugging out massive amounts of power to run a bitcoin mining operation. Bitcoin mining uses tons of computers and lots of processing power and as much energy as they can gobble down. The plant is putting out so much power that protesters say it’s raising the temperature of the lake. A resident of Dresden on the west side of Seneca says, “The lake is so warm you feel like you’re in a hot tub.”
So if terroir is the sum total of everything in the environment where grapes grow — soil, climate, weather, temperature, water — I wonder what happens to the grapes growing by the lakeside if the water temperature is rising? I don’t know. Does anyone know? Do you want to risk your year’s crop finding out?
After handing over my credit card yet again last night, and in sympathy to what Seneca Lake is going through, I went down to the cellar and pulled out this 2017 Shaw Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc.
Shaw Vineyard is on the west side of Seneca, in Himrod, just a little bit down from Dresden of the bathtub-temp waters. Shaw is known for aging their wines, especially the reds, for years before bottling. (Longer than the highest levels of Italian riserva wines!) Whites vary depending on the varietal and vintage.
I got a mild note like honeysuckle and a little green tea on the nose. On the palate it’s pleasantly citrusy without being too acetic, like pineapple tempered with melon. Tons of acidity, and would go great with chilled shellfish, sushi, a mild chicken salad, and mild fresh cheeses.
Hopefully, Seneca Lake, my cat and I can all keep our cool for another week. I hope you all do the same.