THE BOOKS scroll down for WALDO and THE WRATH

THE LAST AMERICAN ALCHEMISTS

MY NEXT BOOK --

CLICK ON THE LINK (DON’T MISS THE VIDEO) http://kck.st/1ddLH1n

A LIFETIME OF LESSONS AND ADVENTURES often STRANGER THAN FICTION MAKE THIS PREDESTINED:

One aging Rocky battles two banks, injury, exhaustion and deceit

to save his ranch from foreclosure in a story that is…

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA MEETS

ERIN BROKOVICH

CLICK ON THE LINK ……. http://kck.st/1ddLH1n

THE WRATH . . . Where adversity thru humor spawns H-O-P-E This is more than a book about starting a winery. It is “reality” personified. Included herein is an account of lessons learned about life...and death…and following dreams. If starting a winery is a dream of yours and you are considering such a venture, or if you are determined absolutely not to ever do such an idiotic thing--wouldn't ever dream of it--there is support for your conviction within these pages either way. There are other dreams addressed here, both the day and night kind. But building a winery, albeit a very small one, is the central one and serves at least as a paradigm for following dreams. If you are interested in making home wine, you will find assistance, support, and encouragement. If you just love wine, you will find fellowship and you might be interested in what goes on before you pull the cork out of the bottle. And your appreciation for what your favorite winemaker has accomplished could be multiplied tenfold. There are so many out there making some great wines. If you have just been introduced to the beverage, you are most welcome aboard. The philosophy expressed in one sentence: Wine is learning what you like, not being taught what to like. What They Are Saying: “Winemaking is indeed a dream adventure, and Ken Jones has made an educational, entertaining tale of it. We loved the book!" --Margrit (Mrs. Robert) Mondavi "With the WRATH OF GRAPES you are definitely onto something. After 22 years in the wine business I quite often become over challenged. But strangely I get a huge kick out of the possibilities for the next vintage." --Fess Parker, Davy Crockett to the world, owner of Fess Parker Winery "It’s a good thing he can write, he couldn't hit a curve ball if he knew it was coming." --Tom Seaver, Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher, Owner of GTS Vineyards " In addition to dedicated oenophiles, the book appeals to dog lovers, especially for Jones’ affectionate recounting of his Labrador retrievers’ production of a huge litter of active puppies, who have their own issues with native fauna, from benign bunnies to lethal rattlesnakes. September 15, 2008 About the author: Ken Jones has been writing for over forty years. His magazine travel and adventure articles, and his photography, have taken him to all continents but Antarctica and Australia , Coming close to both on a recent trip to New Zealand , he is currently on the lamb for speeding. Having been notified of the allegation a month after his return, and with no means to prove or disprove it, he has invited the New Zealand Police to “come and get him,” advising that “they will never take him alive.” In Pamplona , as a youth, he was invited into the James A. Michener/ex-Hemmingway crowd and served as the prototype for Joe in The Drifters. In the Amazon, he dined with headhunters. And in Africa he was chased on foot by a bull elephant. Subsequently he has run 19 marathons. Now divorced, he describes his marriage as having been a good one for fifteen years, but that it lasted twenty. He states that he was a prisoner of war during Viet Nam : he was drafted. He was awarded the “Good Conduct Medal.” In 1995, he planted his first wine grapes and has been making wine since 1998. Currently his winery is seeking a tasting room manager, preferably of Scandinavian descent with prior experience as a lingerie model. To Order: Cover Price for case bound (paperback) is $11.95 US Add $3.00 for Priority Mail shipping and handling (within the US ) , free shipping for orders of three or more. We pay the sales tax. personal checks accepted, no credit cards currently, do not send cash Send Orders to: Corvo Publications P O Box 89 Lockwood , CA 93932 E-mail: corvo@redshift.com Book signing/speaking engagements: We do our best to accommodate and enjoy reader interaction. Please feel free to inquire. back to top

HERE'S . . . Through a series of fortunate and unfortunate coincidences, a dedicated but relatively unknown writer/humorist finds himself exiled to a piece of rural real estate near the Central California coast. One step from homelessness and unemployment, he is quartered in a leaky, little camp trailer set on a barren building site -- Eden , if John Steinbeck's geography was correct. But the coincidences that got this reluctant Ulysses here are nothing -- NOTHING! -- compared to the ones that follow. They lead to the acquisition of a chocolate Labrador retriever, "Roof" WALDO Emerson. Together they set out on one weird and wonderful, intellectual and spiritual adventure, that makes the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland seem like quick trips to the corner speedimart. The lessons learned -- those of self-reliance and the conduct of life -- are age-old and would gladden the ghost of WALDO's namesake. You've heard the saying about teaching old dogs new tricks; well, this young dog has a few things to teach us all. WALDO is about meeting challenges, whether adversities or goals. It is a celebration of the human (and canine) spirit. This is The X-Files meets The Funny Farm. Except it isn't fiction. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about the mysteries of nature and delved into transcendentalism. A century and a half later, the protagonists of this book live it. WALDO is a detective story, as the author and his dog investigate what has to be a writer's worst nightmare -- plagiarism. How would you feel to discover that a novel, "remarkably similar" to one of yours, has just hit the best-seller list and that its author will be advanced $1 million for the movie rights? What these sleuths discover is that a writer's work is about as safe from larceny as a parked Mercedes with the motor running and the driver's-side door wide open. Is this just another weird coincidence or literary theft? WALDO is an odyssey into ethics and the law that transcend the boundaries of reality. Grab your magnifying glass and calabash, Sherlock, you're in for a wild read. Reviews: "Written from the heart, with a literary voice that is clear, insightful and intriguing." Michel J. Bryant, syndicated television consumer advocate, author of The Legal Edge (Renaissance Books) "WALDO offers inspiring examples of how synchronicities come to life and guide us with precise elegance." Dr. Dianne Skafte, author of When Oracles Speak (Quest Books)

To Order: Cover Price for case bound (hard cover) is $19.95 US Add $3.00 for Priority Mail shipping and handling (within the US ) , free shipping for orders of three or more. We pay the sales tax. personal checks accepted, no credit cards currently, do not send cash Send Orders to: Corvo Publications P O Box 89 Lockwood , CA 93932 E-mail: corvo@redshift.com Future titles: Butterflies, Bells and Mirrors, a novel that chronicles a Japanese-American family, before, during and after World War II. Canary Road, an illustrated children's story about a canary who aspires to sing Opera. Book signing/speaking engagements: We do our best to accommodate and enjoy reader interaction. Please feel free to inquire. back to top

WINES

VOLO DEL CORVO Winery Sign Up for announcements We like variety, tailored to the meal And Hope you will, too We currently offer a Sangiovese, Zin, Vin Santo dessert wine (from Malvasia Bianca) and Sauvignon Blanc. We also grow and make Chardonnay, Barbera, Syrah, Cab, Cab/Sangio blend (a SuperTusKen {what vanity}), Vernacia, Pinot Gris, Nebbiolo, Primitivo, and heaven knows what next. These are now in tanks and barrels, and will be bottled in the next few months. If You would like to be notified when they are ready, give us your contact information. Email is preferred. REDS: Zinfandel Sangiovese Nebbiolo Montepulciano Shiraz/Syrah Primitivo Cabernet Sauvignon WHITES: Sauvignon Blanc Trebbiano Toscano Malvasia Bianca Pinot Gris Vernacia Chardonnay Following is a special offer to a now-forming wine club. We are offering a book (The WRATH of Grapes)and wine incentive discount that amounts to a savings of between 28% to 50% when you buy six bottles of mixed case; note an additional 10% savings when you buy a full case (12 bottles). Offer to sell wine is good only in states where legal and to those over legal alcohol consumption age. Email us for specific details with your order. Prices do not include sales tax or shipping that will be added to the order. Variety Retail Price Wine Club 6pak Case(12) ’05 Sangiovese $40.00 $25.00 $135.00 $240.00 May be as close to Tuscany as you will find in the US ...Great with Osso Buco or Eggplant...well, it would make even sawdust delicious. Great with pork chops deglazed with a Jack Daniels. We would love to do a blind tasting with some Brunellos. Drink now.



’05 Zinfandel $30.00 $17.00 $91.00 $183.00 Steak, Steak, Steak and Prime Rib if you run out of steak....or ribs, or anything you can remove from the Barbeque before it becomes ashes. Should age and mature well. ’07 Vin Santo $30.00 (375 ml) $22.00 $118.00 $211.00 Amber Dessert wine terrific with cheese cake, puddings, or cream desserts. Keeps for weeks in the frig once opened. NEW!! ’06 Sauv. Blanc $25.00 $15.00 $81.00 $144.00 NEW!! A more traditional Sauvignon Blanc than the ’06, terrific with milder seafood, and fowl, cheese or vegetarian dishes. I am not a wine sipper but drew a decanter From the tank and set it by the computer as I was working. I looked up to discover that the decanter was empty. Evaporation was not the culprit. ’05 Sauv. Blanc $25.00 $15.00 $81.00 $144.00 An unusually floral nose, tart, citrus up front, with a peach finish. A rare pairing with Chinese food or ahi with wasabi. Refer to about wines below, a little “Kate” crept into this one. Book (THE WRATH) with purchase of a bottle is $6.00 SPECIAL MIXED CASE/HALF CASE PRICES: 1 Sangiovese, 1 Vin Santo, 2 Sauvignon Blank (specify year), 2 Zinfandel: $89.00 full case $170.00 About the wines: The Hepburn paradigm: The REDS: Our aim is to make a bold, sassy, up front red wine -- think Katherine -- the fruit, acidity and tannins enhance that steak, tomato sauce, or chocolate dessert. Usually these are aged in oak barrels. The WHITES: We strive for a delicate, refreshing, seductively subtle white wine -- think Audrey -- that sparkles with that seafood, poultry, and light sauces. Normally these are aged without oak to keep the fruit up front. We do try to keep our maxims to a minimum, and believe that wine is meant to enhance and be enhanced by food, and if you like a red when others prefer a white with a dish, then go for it. One maxim that holds throughout the growing, making and consumption of wine is that for every opinion there is an equally qualified opposite opinion. And for every rule, there is an exception. Wine is learning what you like, not being taught what to like. SULFITES: In the book, our aversion to adding sulfur is explained. In home winemaking, where the wine was kept in the cellar, we did not use sulfites at all. But every winemaker we know and respect has told us we are crazy not to sulfite wine for commercial sales where it might not get the greatest care on a store shelf or a warm kitchen cupboard. That we have started a winery supports the psychiatric diagnosis, discretion has mandated that we add a minimal amount of sulfite at bottling. Not using sulfur during fermentation and aging requires an added care for cleanliness and sanitization, keeping the wine free from contamination. Forcing the wine to survive whatever organisms might be on the skins and stems seems to give it resilience, like a child after the first year in school. Once opened, you will probably notice that it maintains its freshness longer. We would consider bottling special orders of two cases or more without sulfites and provide a certified lab report of the contents. UNFINED, UNFILTERED: We like to offer the whole wine. Consider gourmet coffee, a few grounds in the espresso cup are acceptable, but at times a little tweaking improves the result. Most of our wines are unfined/unfiltered. About the vines: Free range grapes? It is illegal to use the “O” word in any wine advertising (shhh, the root word of inOrganic) unless you are certified “O”. An explanation for not applying for certification is given in the book. Basically it is due to the abuse the term receives, the bureaucratic cost of certification, and the undesirable intrusion of having inspectors tromping through the vineyard with disease contaminated tools, shoes and tires. So we are not “O.” The policy is NO PESTICIDES, NO FERTILIZER, NO HERBICIDES . This means that it takes longer (typically five years [if we are lucky] from planting to first crop instead of the three years enjoyed by most vineyards). There are some eight-year old vines that we hope to get a first crop in 2009. There is an old Italian saying that the poorer the soil, the richer the vine will make you. We just hope our dirt helps pay the mortgage. The yield is smaller, and we believe the grapes produce a unique fruit. We do wish that Noah hadn’t included yellowjackets, leafhoppers and gophers when he set sail. {Editors note: since Al Gore won his Academy Award and Nobel prizes for his work with Global Warming, we have been beset by two frosts that cut production by another 25%. We think he should give the Nobel back but he can keep the Academy Award.} PO BOX 89 , Lockwood , CA 93932 back to top E-Mail corvo@redshift.com

VOLO DEL CORVO OLIVE OIL We really aren't in business yet to sell olive oil. The eighty trees are still young and production is very light. We came out with about one gallon, which considering the cost of the trees, harvest and the press, each eight-ounce bottle should retail for $1000.00. It is still green and needs lottsa aging, but if you would like to try a bottle, we might be able to arrange it. The $1000.00 price would include shipping and handling. It should be excellent for lubricationg door hinges. back to top

THE BLOG

Outta Sync

The Wine and Proses Blog

Vol II Number 8

January 7, 2014

Vic “Tar” Hugo 1997-2013

AFTER 4 YEARS of COMBATING TWO OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BANKS AND A GANG OF THUG “BIG CITY” ATTORNEYS: a settlement…

VICTORy?

IT does SMELL LIKE NAPALM IN

THE MORNING

BUT wINNING THE PEACE MAY BE HARDER THAN WINNING THE WAR

after their stalling 6 months, a dismissal was achieved

Then a month later, a CITIBANK violation of the sETTLEMENT agreement

looks like we might be going back to court…rico maybe…

maybe even go after their

charter

(REad more If You like to read. this isn’t just a blog, it’s a short story THAT IS DISTURBING AND AT THE SAME TIME SPIRITUAL AND UPLIFTING. I hope you Enjoy it.

If you are sound bIte oriented you may want to stop here.

A link to a video history of my ranch and insight to what all of the fuss is about: http://youtu.be/FhMAwqLt7yw

May 10, 2013. My reflection in the barber shop wall of mirrors was startlingly cadaverous. I was reminded of open casket viewings I had attended. I had been overdue for a haircut and the fresh groomed, from-the-ears-up appearance always reminds me of James Brolin-- a testimony to the artful genius of my stylist, Sharon Cambria. But from the forehead down I looked more like something from Tales from the Crypt.

The preceding month had its extra dose of stress; this after four years of battling two of the world’s biggest banks and the abusive litigation of a dozen big city attorneys. Their efforts had trebled with last minute discovery requests that I knew were beyond the legal requirements. I tried to meet all forthrightly. You see, I had TRUTH on my side; a concept foreign to the defendants. I wanted to put as much of it out there as possible. There had even been a request (canceled at the last minute) for an inspection of my home. As one who puts a high value on privacy, that wasn’t going to happen: “IT” hadn’t frozen over yet.

Additionally, my phone lines were cut; my post office box had been broken into and perhaps also my front door; and then I went out to the dog run one morning to find my little dog, Hugo, dead. Perhaps all of these were coincidences not related to the litigation. I met all with appropriate responses: “Act, don’t react,” had been one of my stepdad’s sayings. It went with “You may not be able to control the events of your life, but you can control your response to them.”

Before moving to the ranch, I would not have given much credence to those “new age” philosophers who extol the generosity of the universe and that you can create your own reality. But when you find these themes in such diverse sources as Paulo Coelho (the widest read author on the planet) to Albert Einstein (you may have heard of him), one might begin to take note. Personal experience cases in point:

Living in the country, I had been connected to the internet by dial-up. The cutting of the phone line would have cut me off from the world (during a critical time in my litigation) had it not been for Verizon’s gift of a new smart phone (with a contract agreement) that included the ability to generate a Wi-Fi hotspot. The landline became superfluous. I was now connected at exponentially greater speed wirelessly. What used to take minutes to send or receive was now accomplished in seconds.

I made arrangements with the postmaster to counter any further intrusions on my mail. Once again, the universe provided: my main source of income was my social security check. They issued a new credit/debit card where their contributions were made electronically. Instead of retrieving a monthly check from my post office box, funds are now automatically deposited into the card’s account. Snail mail became far less critical.

As for my little dog, I did check to see that he hadn’t been shot (and in retrospect wished that I had checked for stun gun or cattle prod evidence) before setting out to dig his grave. There was a bittersweet agony about the prospect of the process. The ground here has a bedrock like concrete. My pick handle was broken so I called my friend John Standard at the Pleyto Store nearby. He didn’t have a pick but a customer in his store standing across the counter at the time did. It turned out to be a state of the art, balanced and alloyed for the task I had in front of me. My health wasn’t at its best as I would view a few days later at my barber’s. However, the prospect of exertion -- painful exertion -- made the job grimly attractive. A resting place fit for a pharaoh resulted. I sprained my lower back in the process and the physical pain helped with the emotional one.

Following my haircut, I had an appointment in court for the combined Summary Judgment and Settlement Hearings. Most of the arguments presented by the defendants had been successfully combated in three demurrers that I had survived mostly intact. One exception was that Citibank had my wrong address throughout their motion. Trial was scheduled a month later. However I guess the Judge, the Honorable Lydia Villarreal, saw the same thing I had in my reflection. The vertigo, the dizziness and drained energy combined with ankle swelling that prohibited the wearing of normal shoes (Krocks with dress socks substituted). In stressful situations (like Superior Court Hearings) the elevated blood pressure and inability to focus visually as well as mental were in evidence.

The good judge halted the proceedings, stating, “This is not the same man that first appeared here four years ago.” An in-chambers meeting was convened. A settlement was hammered out. It wasn’t the brass ring results that I had hoped for and that had accompanied the complaints and their amendments. I had to come to grips with the reality of the situation. The judge didn’t want someone dying in her courtroom. I didn’t want that either.

The reality was that I needed immediate funds for:

1. Long neglected medical diagnosis and treatment. The high blood pressure was being managed when not under stress. But the root of the other ailments remained a mystery. The doctors that I sought within 200 miles weren’t taking new Medicare patients.

2. Funds to hire workers to tend the vines. The irrigation system need repair. Summer was on the brink.

3. Without good health, I wasn’t able to carry on the winery and sale of the ranch was an unattractive but real looming imperative. I am proud of the ranch I have built and have created a video that chronicles this on You Tube:

http://youtu.be/FhMAwqLt7yw

Selling was an avenue that had been pursued in the past. Prior to the Banks’ involvement, I had found that I had been able to attract real potential buyers with more success than through realtors. Money was needed for advertising of the sale. The prime real estate selling time is from Spring to Autumn. May 10 marked the beginning.

After the in-chambers conference, court was convened and conditions of the settlement were stipulated to in open court.

It will probably come as a great surprise that the funds stipulated to in open court were not immediately forthcoming. Like a bratty kid pulling a piece of raw meat on a string to tease a hungry dog, a series of communications were issued about the imminence of the payment and finally in September I filed for an ex parte emergency hearing to enforce the settlement agreement.

All three of the reasons for accepting the settlement had been, in the words of Harry Potter, obliviated: I had no new medical treatment for six months. The vines struggled through the heat of summer without water, many perishing. The prime real estate season had come and gone.

The request to enforce the settlement agreement was not a failure. Funds were forthcoming in late October. Some of the long overdue bills were being paid: Sharon Cambria who had generously provided haircuts on credit was paid. Rosa Munoz, who with her husband, Abe, runs the UPS Store on Constitution Blvd. in Salinas and who provided delivery of legal documents with the greatest of reliability and generosity was paid. I got new eyeglasses for the first time in five years. And medical investigation of the vertigo, fatigue, and loss of visual and mental focus was begun. On the last day of 2013, I got the results of a battery of blood tests whose volume would have delighted a bevy of vampires. This wasn’t a meek whisper, it was a thunderous pronouncement: vitamin B12 deficiency.

Almost all of my symptoms can be attributed to it; and It was the only test result out of norm. I didn’t have diabetes, heavy metal poisoning, cancer or any STD. My vitamin B12 level was very low. That’s it. And what is the main cause? STRESS!!!

Suffice to say, I have begun administration of huge sublingual doses of B12 and almost immediately have seen results. The recovery is slow and it will take several months to determine how successful this will be and what permanent damage may have been done. The mental and visual focus are improving. And if I hurry in the morning before the ankles again begin to swell, I can wear shoes again.

IF THIS BLOG ACHIEVES NOTHING ELSE IT WILL BE TO PUBLICIZE THE NEED FOR B12 TESTING. IF YOU HAVEN’T HAD YOUR VITAMIN B12 TESTED (AND YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T) DO IT !!!.

One Note: the American Medical standards for this level are low. A level of above 200 is considered in normal range. Japan (which has the lowest rate of Alzheimer’s in the world -- yes there may be a link between B12 deficiency and Alzheimer’s) has a minimum of 450.

Not all is totally well in Godric's Hollow however. As those first precious drops of B12 were being assimilated, Citibank violated the terms of the settlement. It was an egregious violation. As of this writing, we are headed back to court with a whole new set of complaints. BAD FAITH heads the list but with health coming back, I am looking into RICO (racketeering) violations and maybe even going after their charters.

BY ALL THAT IS HOLY IN THIS UNIVERSE, IF YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT WITH CITIBANK OR WELLS FARGO, CLOSE IT.

IF YOU HAVE A LOAN WITH THEM, REFINANCE IT

…WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

There are other banks that should be included with Citi and Wells but I don’t have the first-hand information that I do with these two. Look for banks that didn’t receive TARP funds; a credit union if you have one available.

ONE MORE GIFT FROM THE UNIVERSE; THE MOST PRECIOUS ONE I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVEN:

Throughout the last four years, I have also been the recipient of volumes of generosity. Some of those who have extended it are named above. One that I would like to add to the list-- if not head it -- is a breeder of Labrador retrievers that I met in my search for a new puppy. With Hugo’s loss, I was without a Lab for the first time in nearly twenty-five years.

I began a quest through the internet that initially knocked me on my hind end. The prices!!! When I had a litter in the late 90’s, a price of $400 was at the high end. Now it’s common to see $2000 price tags. Occasionally I would come across a home-bred litter in the $400 range. So, where would I come up with even that? Ask the Universe. Almost as I asked, a friend of mine, a retired executive from CBS news, emailed me a link to a State of California website that lists unclaimed property. You do a search of cities where you have lived and look for your name. There are thousands of reasons for these funds; from unclosed bank accounts to an insurance dividend.

There was $500 (of which I could earmark $300 for a puppy) in my name. I have no idea what it was for. I also noted there was a slightly larger amount in my half sister’s name (mom always liked her best). It was no small feat tying me to the money. I didn’t have a driver’s license then or even a social security number. I was able to get my first year’s high school transcripts which bore the address and my father’s name. I provided a birth certificate with my father’s same name. A month and a half later, I had my funds.

Now to find my pup: There are a half-dozen websites that offer puppies for sale. I was still hampered by the limitation of funds. As I called those ads that didn’t list prices or whose prices were in the ballpark, I made contact with one family north of Sacramento, the Miners (that’s their last name not occupation) of Cool (a real city name), California. They had a litter of chocolates and blacks. I was open about my financial limits as Stacey Miner was with their price: we really were far apart. But we got to talking; about my writing and the dogs that were prominently featured. We parted amicably. Then about an hour later, Stacey called back. She said that she had talked to her husband, KC, and that if I wanted a puppy, they would give me one.

Give me one?

I offered to at least pay for their expenses such as dew claw and first shots. My offer was declined and a couple of weeks later -- as soon as she turned 8 weeks -- I was driving home with the most precious gift I have been given in my life. I named her, according to my tradition, after one of my favorite writers: Dorothy Parker; AKC Dorothy Barker. It is an apt choice. She is full of feist. And also affection. We have already started our adventures. Readers of this blog will enjoy how I end this one. The symmetry of the Universe (re the date in my first paragraph. This may be the world’s longest Haiku). Dorothy was born May 10, 2013.

Dorothy Barker 2013 --

Outta Sync

The Wine and Proses Blog

Vol II Number 7

August 23, 2013

As the government begins criminal prosecution of the big banks, one private citizen has been LITIGATING for four years AND wonders where they’ve been….

In the last four years, I have prevailed in three demurrers, two Temporary Restraining Orders, two Preliminary Injunctions against foreclosure sale of my ranch/winery/vineyard, and two motions for undertakings (an unfortunate choice of words). I have spent 25 years building this property with my own two hands. The litigation was conducted with the same self-reliance: without an attorney, representing myself with no formal legal education. In the course, I have suffered financial and health damage as I successfully countered false statements and malicious litigation from Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Citibank, N.A. and their attorneys.

On May 10,2013 a settlement was reached. Still the funds have not been forthcoming. Health at 67 continues to deteriorate. But the best award is the story. I am a writer. I have been writing for 50 years. There is no better gift for a writer than a good story. Entitled The Last American Alchemists. this is The Old Man and the Sea meets Erin Brockovich. It is a current Kickstarter,com project (http://kck.st/1ddLH1n ). If successful, it could just save the farm.

A copy of the most recent letter to the attorneys follows:

FROM:

Kenneth F. Jones

65401 Cross Rd.

Lockwood , CA 93932-0089

August 23, 2013

E-Mail corvo@redshift.com

TO:

Mr. Jonah Van Zandt Mr. Kelly A. Beall

Attorney for Wells Fargo Bank N.A. Attorney for Citibank, N.A.

Severson & Werson WOLFE & WYMAN LLP

One Embarcadero Center , Suite 2600 2301 Dupont Drive, Suite 300

San Francisco , California 94111 Irvine , CA 92612-7531

(415) 677-5568 (direct dial) Tel. (949) 475-9200 Ext 460

(415) 956-0439 (facsimile) Fax (949) 475-9203

jvz@severson.com (e-mail) Email: kabeall@wolfewyman.com

Dear Mr. VanZ andt, and Mr. Be all:

Last May 10th we reached a settlement agreement that was stipulated in open court. You agreed, on behalf of your client, to provide several documents and pay me a sum of money

It has now been nearly four months and that money has not been forthcoming. Part of the settlement was that I pay off all mortgages and attendant fees. It was agreed that I do that in five months. The most immediate source of these funds is to sell the ranch home/vineyard/winery that I have spent the last 22 years building, doing 90 percent of the work myself; personal industry substituting for capital. While selling a home where forty-foot oaks stand that I planted as acorns is not my first choice, However I am totally dedicated to that effort. My ranch is priced at least $200,000 below the market. IT NEEDS ADVERTISING!!!

The settlement money was supposed to finance this advertising. Throughout this litigation, with such abusive tactics as posting false advertisings for foreclosure sale while under injunction preventing such sales, you have set out obstacle after obstacle in the face of selling my property. This is beyond abusive, malicious, and oppressive.

Documents promised by the attorneys for the defendants in a week or two were not forthcoming for nearly three months. In court, Mr. VanZ andt stated that he would be presenting a simple agreement for my signature, “basically saying that you agree to dismiss the lawsuit and it is over once and for all. We would agree, obviously, not to file any counter-claims against Mr. Jones.” (copied verbatim from official court transcript)

Mr. VanZ andt has never produced such a document. Instead four weeks after the hearing, Mr. Be all submitted a ten page settlement agreement that had a lot more in it than the above paragraph; ten pages of more. There are several things wrong with this document. First Mr. Be all did not attend the hearings, and he created the proposed agreement without referring to the hearing transcripts (which were not published until several weeks after he wrote his version of the settlement). That document is a work of fiction.

Among the most fictitious entries in the Be all agreement is the one calling for confidentiality. The terms of the settlement were stipulated in open court, in public domain. Anyone can read it. There was no confidentiality ever mentioned.

Quite to the contrary: this suit and the main characters in this drama (The above mentioned attorneys and their cohorts, M. ELIZABETH HOLT, ESQ., and Alice M. Dostálová-Busick) are about to become famous. The deceit and malevolence that you and your clients perpetrated will not be as tolerated by the general public as they are among the lawyer club.

I do have a potential alternative to selling. I am a writer and the story that has come out of this experience is my greatest reward (Currently a Kickstarter project, The Last American Alchemists at the following link http://kck.st/1ddLH1n).

I recently wrote to Senator Warren of Massachusetts who is making prosecution of the banking industry a priority. I also copied my Senators from California and my congressman. Since sending that letter, my website has enjoyed a fifty percent increase in activity and I did get a charming letter back from Senator Warren. A copy of the letter, slightly redacted, that I sent her is in the next Blog down. Last week the federal government announced the first criminal investigations of the banking industry. Maybe my efforts are giving it a little nudge.

The book I am writing is to promote TRUTH and DECENCY. It is not intended to harm, only to put an end to the business practices of your clients and the level of litigation you practice. I am not a vindictive man; I am only going to tell the truth. The sort of litigation that you, Misters VanZ andt and Be all (and your associates) will be disgusting to most readers and movie goers not in the legal “profession.” The business practices of your clients certainly disgust. There is a possibility for constructive change and if achieved, will be told. If not, then I would recommend that you don’t make restaurant reservations in your real names and if you have personal license plates that they be changed.

I am also getting encouragement from associates in the publishing and film industry. There is a real possibility that the book and film rights might produce more than the required funds before the court stipulated deadline. Make no mistake; this is not impeding the attempts to sell the property. Selling is number one priority. It needs advertising. It needs the funds to pay for advertising.

I have also made it very clear that I needed the funds for medical, dental and eye care. Not paying the settlement goes beyond the outrageous and is done with reckless disregard of the probability that the plaintiff would suffer emotional distress. In addition there has been damage to my vineyard of nearly $50,000 because the funds that would also have gone to repair irrigation have been withheld. I am gaining great support for my story hourly. You may think you are being clever but you are just making the story all that much better.

I invite you and your client to get off of your effete asses and produce a settlement agreement that reflects the hearing and send the money .

Cordially,

Kenneth F. Jones

CC: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Huffington Post, Monterey Herald, Salinas Californian, San Luis Obispo Tribune, New Times SLO, Senator Warren of Massachusetts, Senator Boxer of Californian, Senator Feinstein of California, Congressman Farr of California, National Public Radio, Harry Shearer, KSBY, KSBW, Lewis Perdue, Rick Martel. CNN, Google Ceo’s, FOX News, USA Today

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Vol II Number 6

July 10, 2013

One aging Rocky battles two banks, injury, exhaustion and deceit

to save his ranch from foreclosure AS

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA MEETS

ERIN BROKOVICH

Four years ago to the day, HE stood outside of COURTROOM fifteen OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, MONTEREY. With blood pressure soaring and vertigo making it difficult to focus visually as well as mentally, HE paused to regain HIS balance. HE had just appeard IN HIS FIRST HEARING PRO PER (REPRESENTING HIMSELF). HE WAS GRANTED HIS CONTINUANCE: rOUND ONE: VICTORY.

AS HE STOOD AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS WATCHING THE FOOT TRAFFIC AScEND AND DECEND, HE WAS STRUCK BY WHAT A MESS his GENERATION HAD MADE OF THE WORLD. WHILE HE DIDN’T TAKE ALL OF THE BLAME, HE ALSO ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO PREVENT IT.

HE DECIDED THEN AND THERE TO CHANGE THAT.

THE COURT BATTLE IS ALL BUT OVER NOW. HIS DEDICATION CONTINUES ACCORDING TO THE EXAMPLE SET BY ONE OF HIS ANCESTORS. ABOVE ALL ELSE, HE IS A WRITER. A BOOK IS FORTHCOMING:

THE LAST AMERICAN ALCHEMISTS.

THAT ISN’T THE ONLY AVENUE OF PERSUIT FOR THE AVOWED CHANGE. FOLLOWING IS A SLIGHTLY REDACTED LETTER SENT TO SENATOR WARREN OF Massachusetts WHO HAS BEEN LEADING A campaign TO BRING THE BANKERS TO TASK.

Dear Senator Warren,

Thank You. Thank you for raising the questions about the lack of prosecution of the banking industry. Actually I have been prosecuting two banks -- Wells Fargo and Citibank -- as a private citizen for the last four years Pro Per. I guess I won’t be hired as a lobbyist or bank executive now. I am a writer and believe there is a story here big time; one that will help a lot of people. In that vein, I would like to call your attention to the causes of complaint that I have filed in hope of enhancing the enforcement and penalties of the laws they violate. Enforcement is paramount.

1. The banks have a short sale program for property with equity less than market value, but offer no program to sell property in foreclosure worth more than the loan amount. In my case, I have spent 22 years building this ranch/home/vineyard/winery/publishing company doing 90% of the work myself. Industry instead of capital built this ranch. I did not borrow excessively. The ratio of loan to first listing price was about 20%.

In 2009, when injured trying to just “work harder,” I had never missed a payment in my life and found myself facing foreclosure. I did try, and continue to try, to sell the ranch, offering at bare land prices, virtually wiping out the 22 years of work. The banks offer no alternative other than selling the property for loan amount at a trustee sale, which is what they sought to do. Fortunately the court granted preliminary injunctions against foreclosure sale.

2 Something specific needs to be done about the banks posting trustee sales advertisements on the internet, through a telephone hotline, and through the county recorder’s office when enjoined from foreclosure by preliminary Injunction. They continued to advertise that the home will be sold for loan value, then canceled and rescheduled the sale on the advertised sale date. Pretty tough to sell in the open market if potential buyers believe they can buy for loan value.

3 There are laws against attaching Social Security check funds deposited in the bank. Citibank did it anyway. The money was returned…five weeks later. That money was earmarked for blood pressure medication having just becoming eligible for MEDICARE and without medical care for three years. Blood pressure spiked for the first week with evidence of kidney and liver damage. In addition to the slap on the wrist penalties under existing laws, I am claiming daily assault.

4. The SAFE ACT is a great step in the right direction of protecting the public by banning convicted felons from working in mortgage origination no matter when the crime was committed. My case began with a loan officer who was a previously convicted felon (for filing false statements to the Real Estate Board). He made false statements to me; one recorded and retained on my answering machine. His conviction was seven years prior to his hiring at Wells Fargo. They claim to have only checked back six years. Now lifetime checks are required. That loan originator “retired” four days after the SAVE ACT was passed. Hopefully the new law will be enforced.

5. It might be impossible to enforce decency. But when the attorneys for the banks continuously make false statements, I did try. My biggest disappointment was having contempt and sanctions motion against the defendants denied; not because of lack of merit, but on procedure. I didn’t do it right.

210/110 blood pressure, and now cataracts have been among the harvest. I am making a case for calendar preference. OMG, I have become a lawyer (Google Class of 2013). I do feel like that Monty Python character who, waving a saber overhead, calls to his troops to CHARGE! A bomb explodes; the general is shown waving the saber in his remaining arm calling “CHARGE!” Several bombs later he is holding the saber in his teeth, calling his troops to, “CHARGE!”

I still count this as truly the greatest experience as a citizen of this country that I have ever had. The courts have been terrific. I hope the literary work that will result will help a lot of people; perhaps inspire. That dedication will not be diminished. I have a distant ancestor with the same last name who was an admiral in the revolutionary navy. When called upon to surrender his battered vessel, he had a response that I proudly extend today. The spirit is hereditary.

I am also copying my own senators and congressman with the hope of inspiring constructive and productive prosecution of these banks. Great Good luck to you all. CHARGE!

Cordially,

Kenneth F. Jones

Pro Per

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Vol II Number 5

May 27, 2011

THE FARF

His pedigree name was Jean Paws Sartre.

I give all my dogs famous author’s names. Literature and Labrador Retrievers are held in equal esteem.

AN AFFIRMATION OF LIFE LESSONS

The day I got him, I had been wondering if the addition of a new second dog was the right move. I already had a two-year old yellow, Ginnie (AKC: Virginia Woof). Eight months before I had lost my first lab, a chocolate (AKC: Roof Waldo Emerson)…Waldo. I was leaving the Mid State Fair grounds, having paid my annual dues to the art exhibit and Polish corn dog and beer stands, pondering the wisdom of a deposit I had put down on a chocolate pup in a local litter that I was about to take home.

I said that I wanted a sign. I got one -- literally. There was a mock old west town near the exit to the fairgrounds. My attention was drawn to the blacksmith’s shop. The sign above the entry: it read: “WALDO’S .” Approval from the predecessor.

Waldo had been a terrific first Labrador , the smartest dog I’d ever had. And Ginnie was even more brilliant. Though maybe not the brightest light, Sartre settled in with what would become his greatest trait: his cool. Nothing seemed to ruffle him. He was almost aloof even as a pup.

He showed no homesickness. But also there was very little house breaking required. He took to the doggie door like a veteran, with a 3000 sq-ft run on the outside. He was an instant “part of the family.”

his pedigree name would cause problems. Veterinary staff and boarding kennel personnel apparently don’t read much French Literature. “HUH?” was a frequent response to the pronouncement of his name.

I had to admit it seemed a little highbrow for the pup. The solution came from him. He had a way of resting his head heavily on the first step up to the kitchen, watching my demonstrations of culinary genius with just the movement of his eyes. His head remained perfectly still. It was reminiscent of the puppet dog in the old Nestles Chocolate commercials. A chorus would sing the spelling of the company name, “Nestles makes the very best…” and the puppet would sing, “Chawwwk-Lit” dropping his head heavily to puppeteer Paul Winchell’s shoulder, the way my dog rested his on the first step. FARFO was the puppets name, it fit: chocolate candy and chocolate lab.

It was shortened to “Farf” or “The Farf” as he displayed the cool like “The Fonz,” the classic Henry Winkler character from Happy Days television show, who could fix almost anything with a finger snap or the clap of his hands….”Heyyyy”

Except Farf broke things, including one of my teeth as I bent down to fill his bowl that was ill timed with one of his Snoopy -- happy feeding time -- leaps. It cost me $10,000 in dental repair. The tooth, of course, was a canine.

I think Labradors enjoy being nuisances. Farf used to trail behind as I carried the water dishes to the sink, catching the back rim of my slipper just enough to pull it from my heel. Then greet with an arm nudge as I was about an inch from placing the brimming bowl to the floor. Causing spills every time.,,“Heyyyy…”

Like his Happy Days role model, he was good with the girls and fathered a litter with Virginia just after his first birthday. He was a prodigy. And slept almost the whole time during the delivery of ten. On the rare break I would find him in the mud room flat on his back spread eagled and snoring. No paternal delivery room jitters. Rather oblivious bliss. He was, after all, THE FARF.

At the recommendations of the veterinarian and common sense, he was kept separate from his progeny. But there was one puppy jail break that brought the galloping brood under the dog run fence. The Farf was delighted like a big dumb kid, ears flapping as he danced among and on. The mad dash rescue mission left a well intentioned Godzilla sire bewildered. But the pups unhurt and twice as bewildered -- “What the hey was that?”.

I kept one of the litter, a black male, Hugo (AKC Vic “TAR” Hugo) and they were buddies from the beginning. They were great travelers. With the back seat of my Subaru Forester perpetually folded down, Farf would stand on the center console, shoulder to shoulder with the driver when French fries were aboard. He went on point at the Carl’s Jr. bag which had to be kept on the passenger floor to evade drool.

In his later years he grew to love to have his ears and belly rubbed, but in his youth, he was quite independent almost to the point of distaining any opinions of others. As in his response to one lady houseguest’s admiration of his handsome and distinguished profile as he gazed out the back glass door. After she had laid on a thick layer of praise of his nobility, he turned to face her straight on, producing a thunderous, guttural belch.

As he got older and was unable to jump up into back of the SUV, I had to lift his front legs up to the bed of the car, then we worked as a team wheelbarrow fashion, me on the back, hoisting the eighty-pound brute up. It was a compromise necessitated by the also aging master having pulled the devil out of his back trying to do the job solo. It worked…”heyyyyy.”

We had aging parallels.. He got a summer itch, I got a winter one. We both developed a little arthritis. He developed a lipoma, a non malignant tumor, as I also discovered a lump that was nicknamed “Lance.” Mine went away, but his didn’t, though it never seemed to bother him. I made the decision against surgery as the risk of the operation seemed greater at his age than the lump. He was cool with it.

Four years ago, he got very ill. My guess it was something he ate. Considering that rabbit droppings were one of his favorite delicacies, it wasn’t a stretch of a guess. He was twelve then, which is getting up there for a Lab. Whatever it was, really put him down. Sitting on the floor next to him, stroking his unusually coarse fur, I made him a deal. I asked for two more years. I told him he was going to recover and I asked him then for two more years. He signed on and doubled the contract. A month ago, though, he finally left for good.

A section of the dog run fence had been pulled up as was their modus. Fences have to be made of titanium with Labs. And they seem to offer the dogs an almost hypnotic allure to be defeated. I often took the dogs with me to the sixty-acre lower vineyard. It is entirely fenced and if I lost track of the dogs for more than forty minutes, I would look up to see them scavenging outside the perimeter. With sixty acres to play in and they still have to go the other side.

I have a 160 acres and some of it is very heavily covered in brush. When he didn’t come back right away and his son returned, I assumed the worst. First, he was getting pretty weak and on the 1/8 mile daily walks to water the green house, he would fatigue and occasionally stumble. That he was gone for more than an hour probably meant he was gone.

That didn’t stop me from trying to find him. I am fighting my own health issues right now and so my forays into the bush were feeble. But I tried to comb the nearby area, judging that he wouldn’t have gotten far. When it started to hail, I had to laugh hoping he was in some good heavenly vantage to view and fully enjoy the nuisance he had achieved.

The view from earth was bittersweet. I think he knew the pain he saved me from having to bury him. I would much prefer to hunt for him, hail and all, and fail than to bury him. I have buried two now and hate it.

AN AFFIRMATION OF LIFE LESSONS

First, I have come to realize that death is inevitable. I have learned that with humans as well as with dogs. As it is normal to grieve, I also acknowledge that it is selfish. It is self pity for not getting any more. I have learned or am learning to use a loss as a time to celebrate what I have had. And have just shared with the reader. There just isn’t going to be any more from that source. This is an opportunity to give thanks for what I have had and have.

Secondly, it is also a call to show that appreciation to the living. When Farf was alive, I made sure that I let him know how grateful I was for the contribution he was to my life. I do that with Hugo and with all that are close to me. It is a daily ritual. With the dogs, I thank them every day for being my bubbas. I let them know that while it is a good thing to be a dog, they are more. And that I am grateful.

And finally, when I loose someone I cherish, I try to identify their greatest strength and then resolve to assimilate that. With Waldo, it was his gentleness; with Virginia her happiness; with my dad, my stepfather, it was his generosity; and with mom, her mettle. It is an attempt at perpetuation and at immortality. I am not saying I achieve 100 % success, it is enough to try. I am failing miserably with the most recent, with Farf’s loss… but I am trying....trying…to be cool with it.

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Vol II Number 4

December 24, 2011

A Christmas Rose

There aren’t many of them now with temperatures falling below freezing at night, still a few stalwarts have the fortitude and remain delicate. Setting a seasonal example

Some Spiritual Time of Year

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas has always been one of my favorites. Second to Summer. It might have been explained in the early years as “school’s out.” A time to expand and test personal freedom, develop individuality.

The difference between Summer and this season is people. As a boy, the summer explorations were often solitary. Playing on a deserted beaches in Mexico or Ventura , going to Africa alone as a young adult. The “Holidays” were and are more centered around others. I loved to shop for loved ones and spent a lot of time and care at it. I was intense about it. It began with Thanksgiving and ended with a ritual Christmas Eve foray…closing down the stores. There is something special about being out then.

I always knew when I’d found the perfect gift. It expressed my relationship with the recipient. And on Christmas morning, I was much more interested in how these were received than what I got. It wasn’t uncommon to be the last opening presents. Not because I got more, but because I was enjoying them opening theirs.

I also took my gifts personally. Like the year I got my then wife a small and imperfect ruby and diamond ring. I just liked the setting. And so did my wife. Material gifts got her attention, and while the ring was intended to express an endearing sentiment, it was diamonds and a ruby to her. That year, I got three new pairs of Levi 501s that she had purchased on sale several months prior when they were on sale. I did need the jeans, and 501s are my preference. But they were just jeans. As I surveyed the pile of denim in contrast to the jewels, the sentiment scales seemed pretty out of kilt. The marriage was also.

This year has to be one of the most gratitude replete years yet. Two new friends, three actually, or five if you count Rosa Munoz’s husband Abe and their two sons. And I do. Rosa and Abe have a UPS Store in Salinas , California . They have been in business there eight years. I first met Rosa through my process serving of documents in the litigation I am currently waging with Wells Fargo (going well by the way, and don’t want to publicize prior to trial.). I often need papers delivered overnight and Rosa and her UPS experience have come through for me with extraordinary precision and reliability that may well have saved my life. Their address is 1522 Constitution Blvd , Salinas CA 93905 and their phone number is (831) 449-4999, email store4642@theupsstore.com . Also the gas in the station next to the store is ten to fifteen cents cheaper than any I’ve seen in three counties (if you have a Vons or Safeway card).

But that’s just the Levi’s of the story. In addition to all being personally likeable, Abe is an avid outdoorsman and he has brought his family to my ranch as they explored the 160 acres with respect and as a consequence are always welcome. But the real ruby ring of this story is that they bring carnitas and fresh corn tortillas. Now I have several weaknesses, and near the top of the list is the slow-cooked, melt-in-your-mouth, pork dish. GAWD!!! WHATTA FEAST. Goes well with my Zin, too.

The other new friend I have for the holiday comes with a story that might be unrivaled in its poignancy in my history. I was shopping in Wal-Mart in Paso Robles one afternoon. I do most of my staple shopping there. And somehow got to talking to one of the floor managers, Mary Beth. I tend to do that when out and about, often taking laughter where I go. The subject drifted to health matters. I mentioned my high blood pressure, and she revealed that her husband had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (this just days after Steve Jobs had succumbed to the dreaded disease).

I immediately thought of my book. It is funny and humor under the stress of combating cancer can be the second best medicine (he was an outpatient at Stanford). So I retrieved a copy from my car and brought it to her as a gift. Of all the responses I might have expected, “Oh, I already have that book,” would not have been one of them. It seems a friend had already given her a copy. “Well then give this one to your husband,” I replied. And she gracefully accepted the gift.

I happened to have just spent more on gas than I had meant to, so was short cash for milk and eggs. I asked if she might want to buy a third copy at half price as a gift for a friend, to which her response was to give me $2.50 for my milk and eggs. People just being good to other people.

Now that was just the Levi’s of that story. A week later I sought out Mary Beth with a video recommendation…a favorite comedy from years ago by Jacques Tati, entitled Mr. Hulot’s Holiday . Trying to administer humor as an antidote for chemo. I first enquired how her husband was doing.

“You wouldn’t believe it,” she said huskily. “The cancer is gone.”

I don’t usually like to admit it, but I like chick flicks. I have been known to tear at a poignant commercial (beer commercials kindle a special affection). It took a lot of discipline not to give Mary Beth a shower. We hugged. I pulled out my handkerchief and blew my nose. Some ruby ring.

I have read several in the great tradition of The Power of Positive Thinking , Creative Visualization , The Secret , and The Power of Now . I like to salt my life experiences with a little Synchronicity. As I started out the day before Christmas Eve, 2011, I thought about the process server who had done a lot of my early serving but whose service I hadn’t used lately. On our last meeting she had given me a discount and I had promised her a book (I probably give more away than I sell). I thought I ought to call her and reached for the totally disorganized stack of business cards that sits on my computer table, not even sure if her card was among them. Funny thing, hers was on top. I smile at such events. I did call, wished seasons greeting and assured her that I hadn’t forgotten my book promise.

Books truly do reign in my life. The day before I had called my favorite bookstore in Morro Bay , Coalesce Book Store, 845 Main St Morro Bay , CA 93442 , (805) 772-2880, email coalesce@charter.net . This is the bookstore where I had my first signing of The Wrath . There aren’t many of them around anymore. I was looking for a copy of For Whom The Bells Toll in paperback. I had been looking for a used one for weeks. Lina, the owner, went to the shelves and said they had a new one for $15 or so. Since I was going have to pay full price, it would at least be at a bookstore I liked. Then Lina discovered a book that hadn’t been shelved. A used one, for four dollars. What a coincidence. I told her I would be in later in the week.

There are several ways to get to Morro Bay from Highway 101 going south. If you take 46 West, you can cut over at Cross Creek and it saves you about ten minutes. By far the most scenic route is to take 46 all the way to Hwy 1, then take that south right and drive along the ocean. The hills begin almost like Germany , with lots of trees and foliage, then as the wonderfully maintained 46 glides down to the coast, the vegetation becomes more sparse. NPR featuring Chanticleer makes for a perfection that is outright improbable as the ocean joins the symphony. One NOW not missed.

The bookstore is busy. Greetings and Good Will is exchanged with the ladies on duty. The book is purchased and more tidings exchanged as you leave. It is starting to feel a little more like Christmas.

One more stop: shopping for Christmas Dinner. There are three ritual feasts in my household. Thanksgiving Turkey, Easter Ham (and colored eggs and bleenies -- spicy potato pancakes from my Russian grandfather), and Christmas prime rib with Yorkshire pudding. Dare one hope to find prime rib within my budget? Two days before Christmas, it is sometimes impossible to find at all. I start my search at Albertson’s Paso Robles. They do have a terrific meat department. It is crowded and finding a parking space on the end closest to the store bodes well - the best space in the lot. The store is crowded. Standing room only next to the meat.

If Chanticleer on the radio as you head west on 46 is improbable, then the signs along the beef section are out of the question: PRIME RIB 50% off.

Half expecting to find none at all, there is roast after roast. Anticipating a couple of Jerky rejects, these are succulent, marbled cuts that Michelangelo might have dreamed up if had gone into meat instead of the marble business.

Starting to feel a lot like Christmas. A few accessories and garnish join the basket, then I nearly collide with a familiar face. Mary Beth, the Wal-Mart floor manager, spouse of the cancer survivor. With the possible exception of the holiday’s namesake himself, there are fewer people I would have preferred to have encountered. A quick and positively responded to inquiry on progress, then another opportunity to exchange hugs and to send out Glad Tidings. As I now extend in gratitude and with sincere blessings and great hope that all are…

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time…

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Vol II Number 3

April 27, 2011

What’s Wrong With

This Picture?

Too small to succeed strikes back at a Too Big to Fail

,

This is supposed to be a wine and writing Blog but early on I said the scope would include a variety of topics. For starters, one in keeping with the mission on writing. I finally read the first in the Harry Potter series. I try to stay true to Emerson’s (RW) advice not to read books less than two years old. It eliminates some wasted time on less than superior publications. Ms. Rowling, the Potter author, deserves all of the accolades and profits she has received. She is imaginative, creative, and presents a story by showing not telling. I just wish my book would be listed on Amazon.com as one of those who bought hers and also bought mine. I will say, if you like my books and writing and have a youthful spirit, you will like hers (now watch her sales soar). She just proves that people will read books that don’t rely on sex and violence. Mine don’t either and the lack of violence is by choice.

I did notice though that she identifies a majority of the world as second rate unconscious beings (Muggles) and also that evil exists even in the first rate world of Hogwarts School (the Slytherins --snakes in the grass). JK Rowling’s work is fanciful, but maybe not as fictitious as some might believe. Living here on the Volo Del Corvo for twenty years, I have experienced a reality that does border on the magical. And unfortunately life here has not been insulated from the wicked and destroyers. Whose has been in the last two years?

A few days ago, I received an email from a single mom of three sons in the Pacific Northwest . She had lost her small ranch to foreclosure and wrote me, seeing that I am struggling, offering an exchange of labor for a roof over their heads. She has a treasure trove of innovative green ideas and solid plans that didn’t come to fruition due to the economy. She had products to sell if all the buyers hadn’t been driven off the game board. Do not pass go.

"The Federal Reserve Board on Monday said it is preparing to release sensitive emergency lending data from the peak of the 2008 financial crisis after the Supreme Court rejected a bid by major banks to keep the information secret," Dow Jones Newswires writes. March 23, 2011

{Gee, we might learn that they had been involved in one giant Ponzi scheme and we all know those are illegal. Right, Bernie? KFJ}

I wrote her back and told her that I sure supported her efforts, that I could have used the help two years ago, but that I currently have the ranch on the market for sale and didn’t know how much longer I might be here. I said I would inform any buyers of the offer. A potential labor source would be welcome.

Then, through one of those coincidences that have come to be common place here at the Volo Del Corvo, I met someone looking to start a project much in keeping with the above mom’s expertise. I put them together. I don’t know how that will turn out but if any of the other readers might have similar aspirations along the lines of a GREEN co-op, I would be glad to forward the information on to her. Just use the contact-us link.

225,000 filings of foreclosure during the month

money.cnn.com/2011/03/10

{And that’s a huge improvement. KFJ}

When the mortgage loan problem was new, it was identified as a dual problem: bad lenders and bad borrowers. So how come only the borrowers are the ones paying by being foreclosed? Or now almost four years later is a new foreclosure a result of a bad borrower or a victim of the worst economy in a century? One created by wholesale bad loans/Ponzi scheme perpetrated by the banks?

One observation: when BP created the oil spill off of the Gulf Coast . They undertook to clean up the mess they made. Spent billions and continue to do so to assist its victims. If they had followed the solution the banks have adopted, they would have been scooping up oil slicks and dumping them on the boats and homes and heads of the fishermen. Most recently Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced that they would be paying $12,000 to every household forced to evacuate because of leaking radiation. WHAAAAT? They didn’t cause the earthquake or the tsunami. If they had just followed the example of the banks, they could have confiscated those abandoned properties. They could make a killing.

Some Banks Start Restoring Dividends After Fed Approval

Published: Friday, 18 Mar 2011 | 2:05 PM ET

By Reuters with CNBC.com

I would like to see this site become a center for assisting the victims like the young mother above. I invite those in difficulty because of their mortgages or foreclosure to write. Perhaps I can do more matching with those able to help. I am dedicated to that purpose. And to truth. Let’s wash some yams here in a constructive dialogue. (For an explanation of “washing yams” see Blog Vol II Number 1 January 28, 2011)

The past almost three years have not been bliss here. My personal history has already been recounted (link to banking Blog) 1. I am forced to sell a ranch I have spent nearly a quarter of a century building. If the loan officer had been truthful, I wouldn’t be in this position. I recently heard an interview with a blind elderly lady who had complied fully with her loan renegotiation and was still foreclosed. I am not a blind old lady.

Too Small to succeed STRIKES BACK at

Too-Big-For-Their-Britches…

On March 24th, Wells Fargo and the loan consultant who told me the reverse mortgage program ended when it didn’t were served notice of a lawsuit for violations of the laws governing truth in lending and equal opportunity in lending. Oh good, another full-time job.

The contrast between where I could be if that loan had been made available and where I am now is dramatic. It is the stuff that good books are made of, and will be my next. The damage inflicted is not small. Not least of which is my health. I have simply worked myself into exhaustion for which rest or even hospitalization is prescribed. A regimen that has proven slowly successful has been adopted: When I feel tired, I just rest (Not always, sometimes I lapse and find that it’s 7:00 P.M. and I haven’t eaten yet that day. And I pay for it for three days.). I read (glad for that renewed friendship with books as I cancelled my satellite TV service), and I sleep. Renewed and refreshed, I get back to a variety of work that makes for a gratifying life: vine trimming, writing, wine making, and now legal education. I have been disappointed by some well intended attorneys (maybe some not so well intended), and once again rely on the one sure standby -- myself. I have gone pro per.

{SOME USEFUL HEALTH CARE TIPS FOR BOOMERS}

It isn’t for sympathy that I mention my health, it is an explanation for being willing to part with this Eden . Just facing facts. I love the work to balance the creative/mental activity of writing. The chassis just isn’t up for it. When I am fatigued, I rest. And now nearly two years later, the regimen has met with some success. Most recently, I have discovered that cardio workouts, walk/running help immensely. An ex marathon runner who had given over entirely to working outside rather than work outs, I probably should have realized this sooner. Cardios do it. The lower legs and feet don’t swell as rapidly (a result of the leg injuries).

I have also discovered that I can mentally control my blood pressure. The exercise is to visualize that bar on internet maps for zooming in and out. Mentally clicking on the minus sign combined with relaxed breathing and relaxing the abdominals produces a twenty point drop in blood pressure in minutes. It isn’t sympathy I wish to cultivate. I wish my life even now to be an inspiration. Rocky coming off the canvas bloodied but not defeated. Uh, uh, no. I have read about what depression is. This isn’t it. Yeah I am tired a lot, but at 64 I still manage to do the work of two 32-yr-olds. And I laugh too frequently to be depressed.

Laughing at adversity: As in the fact that with almost a million dollars in equity I have to budget for batteries for my blood pressure cuff. Or that the “W” key isn’t working all the time on this keyboard right now. Or that a rat devoured the electric lines to my car’s alternator, but fixed now and got the rat (all rats take heed). And one other thing: I asked the question at the beginning of this Blog about what was wrong with the picture. Never claimed to be pretty, but two mild skin cancers are gradually healing on the forehead. There were three others in less visible locations that have come and gone that left no mark at all. But the ones on the forehead are going to leave a combined, single, faint scar. It bears a slight resemblance to…a lightning bolt.

And Now a word from our sponsor:

160 Acre View Estate, 3000 sq. ft. Home, 20 Acres of Grapes, 100 more plantable, licensed boutique winery with big league, full-blown, world class potential, the infrastructure is in place. Original asking was $2.8 Million, reduced to $1,588,000 -- Reasonable Offers Considered, Investor Inquiries Invited

Location: ½ hour N. of Paso Robles, CA; a little over an hour south of Monterey/Carmel, a little over two to San Francisco . Health forces sale.

There is still hope for plan “A”: Do you know Tom Hanks? How about Bill Murray?

Three different visitors to the ranch have professional and/or personal associations with Tom Hanks. They have all said that a movie should be made of the book and that he should do it. They have all sent him copies of my book. Haven’t heard from Tom, though there are rumors he has set up a card table in his front yard and is selling books (I am sure these are unfounded). Still, if you know him, have your people call my people.

I had considered the book to be Cast Away meets Turner and Hooch but now with the court room drama, it would add a third dimension: Philidephia? Erin Brockovich?

Actually, I thought Bill Murray was brilliant in Lost in Translation and he was more apt, so if you know him, be glad to send on a book to forward.

Writer Will Write for Food:

Writer/Editor with broad background and experiences would like to discuss your project. Ransom Notes a specialty (just kidding, but serious about taking on projects as ghostwriter). PR or Advertising also of interest. Knowledge of computer graphics (I do my own labels and book covers).

Help to mortgage and foreclosure victims:

Write us here. Be glad to assist if we can. If anyone has a project that can benefit from the industry of the single mom in the Blog, we would be glad to forward on the information to her.

Seeking Attorney/Attorneys to assist in Civil Suit with Wells Fargo . Will pay on sale of home

Currently the wealth is spread around several consultants. More help is welcome. Knowledge of California Real Estate and lending laws, Calif. Civil.

[Note: readers can send comments via the contact link. They can also buy books and wine…just a thought. I make a wine that goes well with yams.]

And finally, a prayer for the victims in Japan , from the song Sukiyaki:

Ue o muite arukoo

Namida ga kobore nai yoo ni

I look up when I walk

So the tears won't fall

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Outta Sync

The Wine and Proses Blog

Vol II Number 2

February 10, 2011

TRUTH II

(Continued from last month)

I left off on the last blog talking about slogans and the untruths they mask. First a little truth about the so-called MEDICAL CARE REFORM BILL. There are few industries in our society that are more in dire need of reforming. Medical, Dental and Veterinary business in America border on fraud. Just because they wear white coats and have a wall full of diplomas certifying that they have completed instructions given by others wanting to perpetuate the deception of their legitimacy, doesn’t excuse the fact that they so often -- most often? -- fall very short of promoting better health. The bill (Law?) doesn’t reform medical care; it reforms how the bad medical care is paid for. It doesn’t reform medical care, it perpetuates bad medical care. It just changes how the perpetrators of bad medicine are paid. And the more bad medicine, the more they are paid. They are rewarded for the numbers of procedures they perform, not on the success of those procedures.

I heard recently that America is somewhere around 40th in the world on promoting longevity. I hope we can improve that, not continue it. I will do a whole Blog on the subject. A biology major with a BS (yeah, I know), sometimes pre-med, a brief stint in charge of a university physiology teaching lab, and a medic/surgical scrub specialist in the Army are some of my qualifications to speak on this subject. I have witnessed some great, artistic medicine (medicine is art, not science) I have also been a victim of bad medical, dental and veterinary care (for my dogs). It doesn’t take any qualifications to see the truth in the fact that there are forty some other countries where people live longer.

There is one area of medicine in which the US might claim to excel: Trauma Care. I haven’t seen any comparative studies on it but advances in treatment of the broken and maimed come as a result of successful treatment of the broken and maimed. War produces great quantities of broken and maimed, and the US has been in some war almost non-stop for the last seventy-five years. War may be medicine’s most productive laboratory. There is a congresswoman in Arizona that has a chance to live because of it. This is a good thing. One benefit of war. This should not be undervalued: Godspeed, on your recovery.

Did anyone else notice, though, that the first charges filed against the shooter were attempted assassination of a member of congress and then killing those who were government employees. No mention was made about the tragic death of a nine-year-old little girl. It just sounded to me that government employee’s lives have been elevated above private citizens. Those governing have declared themselves a new elite class…American Royalty.

When I was nine, I had a paper route. While I folded my papers and wrapped them with rubber bands I would read the front page and the sports section. I remember Khrushchev taking off his shoe at the UN and pounding the table, and VP Nixon telling the world that his wife wore cloth coats. I was a young devotee to current events and have been all my life. At about this time I was also a frequent movie goer. One movie made a lasting impression based on George Orwell’s 1984. It is a futuristic movie (thirty years before 1984) about how government controlled everything in the lives of the citizens, to the point of fabricating history and the truth. The citizens just followed along blindly, accepting what they were fed. There was an enemy of the state whose picture they broadcast on big screen televisions (this was in the early days of T.V.). The citizens were told --brainwashed -- that “Big Brother” (the coinage of the term) was protecting them.

Recent broadcasts of Bin Ladin and the establishment of homeland security are reminiscent. Eisenhower was president then. An excerpt from the US President’s retirement speech:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. “

Ike had a lot of military experience. He also warned:

“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

The citizens in the movie were neither alert nor knowledgeable. In researching this Blog, I came upon an interesting tidbit of information. The CIA now owns the publication rights to Orwell’s 1984. I guess they are concerned about being sued for infringement on intellectual property rights (plagiarism). A more recent version of the movie was made that was vastly different (I haven’t seen it) from the first. Such information leads me to doubt the veracity of claims that Wikileaks is jeopardizing our troops or national security. And if it did, I hope our military leaders are astute enough to make the required adjustments. What makes anyone think that the other side didn’t already know first. Maybe the other side is the source of the leaks. Such claims of damage to security have, however, served to deflect attention from the contents of the Wikileaks publications. Such claims are analogous to what a dog does by kicking grass and dirt over their business. They do it to hide their business. I believe that truth about our government is welcome. The revelations are contributing to our alertness and knowledge. They are an antidote to brainwashing, a prescription for blankly accepting platitudes from public officials like “Weapons of Mass Destruction” or “Healthcare Reform.”

Truth

In the previous Blog I described an anthropological phenomenon, Critical Mass, observed in monkey populations. The writing of these two blogs has been a profound spiritual experience for the writer. Topics and information are appearing serendipitously. At the time of writing the previous, I had been discussing with a friend the self-immolations that had occurred in Tunisia and then Egypt . I expressed an opinion then to my friend that it might be awhile before touring there would be advisable. What has happened in the weeks past borders on the surreal. Egypt has undergone a revolution and now Libya . Moammar Gadhafi is about to be deposed and is being accused of crimes against humanity. It is like the world has gone on stage to demonstrate YAM WASHING.

In the previous Blog, I came up with the analogy of truth telling being like driving on the right side of the road. I don’t know where that idea came from but it was celestially apt for this discussion. I said that I don’t make a practice of driving on the wrong side of the road, but then, now I recall a recent visit to Carmel , California where I encountered a driver coming at me on my side of the road. Before I could express my displeasure, I noticed that cars parked at the curb on my side of the road were all pointed in the wrong direction. Indeed I was the one going the wrong way. I had missed the one-way street sign when I turned onto that street. I braked to a dead stop, suffered the justified expressions of displeasures (far less vocal than I would have been) as drivers went around me, and when the cars had all passed and the road was clear, I made a U-turn into the correct direction, just as a motorcycle patrolman came into the intersection. I think my maneuver was completed before he saw me, so I escaped without incident. Correcting untruths can be a little more difficult. One element is consciousness. You have to be aware that truth is desirable and then subject statements to the question, “Is it true?” All statements, no matter what the source. In a recent report on NPR, the pro-Gadhafi troops were described as mercenaries because they were being paid. Is that true? Is the definition of a mercenary one who is paid to fight? Are our troops fighting without compensation? I don’t consider them mercenaries. Do you? Just an example of yam washing. The point is that like wrong-way driving, the telling of untruths and their acceptance can be turned around. And is turning…on a global scale. Critical Mass: Wash The Yams…TRUTH!

{As I was writing this it was announced that George W. Bush has cancelled his first trip to Europe since leaving office. The reason for canceling is that international human rights attorneys threatened to take legal action against him for sanctioning the use of torture and are seeking his arrest. Readers might find it interesting to Google Bush purchase of land in Paraguay , where they do not have an extradition treaty. My guess is that he doesn’t want to be cellmates with Gadhafi. There might be a Broadway hit in that scenario.

Also a federal judge in Florida has just declared the Health Care Reform Bill unconstitutional.

You think someone has been washing yams?}

[Note: readers can send comments via the contact link. They can also buy books and wine…just a thought. I make a wine that goes well with yams.]

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Outta Sync

The Wine and Proses Blog

Vol II Number 1

January 28, 2011

TRUTH

"George Washington was better than me. He could not lie. I can lie, but choose not to."

Mark Twain

I have just finished reading The Kite Runner. Given my current circumstances, it probably wasn’t the best book to be reading now as it describes fatigue as a symptom of cancer and the story is about displaced persons and the hardships encountered. Earlier blogs explain the personal relevance.

As a writer, I particularly appreciated the author Khaled Hosseini’s keen observations of human strengths and weaknesses. There was one observation he made that especially struck a chord. The author describes the protagonist’s best friend as, “Always meaning everything he said, and believing that all others do too.” Implied was that the protagonist was not always truthful, and didn’t much care that he wasn’t.

That passage got me thinking, which is the real point of literature. My personal assessment: I always mean what I say but I am different from the kite runner. I know that most don’t hold to their word. I always hope they do, but experience has taught me otherwise. Still I hope, and only when the personal cost becomes too high do I abandon that hope.

Then I began to wonder why the protagonist embraced his stance (a popular one, I have observed). I find it puzzling. Isn’t truth like driving on the right side of the road? You just do it. In discussions with friends and associates, it was often suggested that people don’t tell the truth because it is easier. I have a problem with that suggestion. Truth isn’t difficult, you just do it. One difference in wrong-way driving is that it is hazardous to your health. There is a clear and present danger from it. Not so obvious are the hazards of lying.

Indeed, in one highly publicized example today, the hazards seem to be set for those telling the truth. I am referring to the Wikileaks publications and the arrest of its head Julian Assange. CNN is carrying a story today that he could get the death penalty. For telling the truth.

A great smokescreen has been thrown over what he has really done. Statements that he has jeopardized our national security raise questions that I haven’t heard articulated.

1. How secure is our nation if he got such information in the first place?

2. What evidence is there that the bad guys didn’t already have the information?

3. What specifically was jeopardized?

Nor have I seen some of the benefits of those publications articulated.

1. Security of our nation has been enhanced. Hopefully information vital to this country is now better guarded. If it isn’t, I hope it is publicized.

2. The husband is always the last to know. In this case, the American people. We know the truth…or more of it. One of the greatest truths is that war is mankind’s worst endeavor. Dig the deepest pit, and at the bottom you will find war. Put an outhouse over the pit, and still at the bottom is war. The truth is that sometimes war is justified. It is that truth that stopped me from signing a paper that could have prevented my being drafted forty years ago. But maybe knowing the truth about war will make people a little more cautious about waging one. Gee maybe if everyone is a little more cautious there won’t be any wars at all and what would all the generals do then, poor things. Or all of the bomb makers?

What Wikileaks has exposed is that we are doing some dirty things in waging war. Truth. War is dirty. Truth. When you are in a war, the wagers of it do dirty things. Both sides, or all three sides when you are waging two wars. We are being dirty in two places. But you know, that is how you win a war. This isn’t tag or flag football. You don’t wave a hankie and call, “Tag, you’re it.” This is tag, you’re dead or maimed or mutilated.

World War II was finally won when we decided to fight as dirty as the enemy. For years they had been bombing cites -- London , half of England -- and we had held to our rule that we don’t bomb cities, don’t kill civilians …intentionally. Then we fire-bomb Dresden , turned the whole place into an ash heap. Some of those ashes had been innocent civilians, guilty of only having taken up residence in Dresden . Then of course, we used the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Then we won the war.

Today the enemy is fighting dirty wars. They capture civilians as well as military and lop off their heads on video. “Fowl!!!” we cry. Just like the British did in our revolutionary war. They were playing by the rules of their day where soldiers marched in bright red uniforms in straight rows and columns. We hid behind trees and won the war fighting dirtier then the other side. One feature of trying to fight a “clean war” is that you will loose more of your troops in doing it. So the British found out.

I should admit here that I am not a military expert. I served two years of active duty as a draftee. Which is more than the White House occupants for the past 18 years have done. I knew before we went into Iraq that war is dirty and did not or do not now believe this is (these are) war(s) that are justified. The point I want to make is that it is a good thing that there is a greater awareness of the filth. So that when we do enter a war, those that we engage know we will do that. It might temper enthusiasm from the “evil doers” for doing evil. Also, maybe fewer will be seeking military actions without more forethought...waiting to fight a war they are willing to fight dirty for. Here’s a thought: publish a list of transgressions that would be met by military response. Dirty military response if need be. Like taking innocent Americans Hostage. Teddy Roosevelt did it in Tripoli , I wonder if our standing in the Middle East today might be different if Jimmy Carter had done the same.

3. I hope, too, that empty slogans will someday be identified for what they really are: Untruths.

In writing this blog, I did a little fact checking and found that about three percent of traffic deaths can be attributed to wrong-way drivers. There are no truth statistics that I could find but it does seem to me that lying is epidemic. Perhaps there aren’t many deaths you can attribute to them. Except maybe the one about weapons of mass destruction. A lot of people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan . On both sides.

I wonder if anyone else is as repulsed by the statements of those in power (Congress) who voted for the invasion into Iraq and just dismiss their support as having been deceived. This includes our current Secretary of State Clinton who has a long track record of being deceived. Hopefully the exposition by Wikileaks will make us all less prone to deception and alert to untruth. Especially Mrs. Clinton, who is in this nation’s key office for international affairs (perhaps an unfortunate choice of words).

I was on a Google trip the other day. I wanted to use the Atomic bomb concept of critical mass in something else I was writing and wanted to be sure of the term. The search took me in a serendipitous direction to the anthropologic theory by that name. It seems that a study of an island population of monkeys revealed a fascinating phenomenon. There had been an interruption of their normal food supply and the scientists started supplying them yams. The monkeys liked the yams well enough, but they got covered with sand, and the monkeys didn’t like the sand. One of the monkeys started rinsing his off in a stream. Another monkey started copying him. Soon a lot of monkeys were doing it. And a funny thing: when 100 monkeys were washing their yams, monkeys on a different island started doing it spontaneously…no communication with the two islands. The scientists theorize that when sociological phenomenon becomes accepted by a large part of the population (critical mass), there is a mechanism whereby it is transferred to the whole. Like accepting slogans as gospel. Just something in the air. Like accepting untruths. But I believe that Truth will out. It is a basic law of physics.

{I try to keep these blogs to three typed pages. So this will carry over to the next blog. I will post it in about a week. Oh wait until you see what news tidbit just came across my desk. There is something in the air. Truth.}

[Note: readers can send comments via the contact link. They can also buy books and wine…just a thought. I make a wine that goes well with yams. Readership is picking up. If you like it, tell your friends. If you don’t like it, tell your enemies.]

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Outta Sync

The Wine and Proses Blog

Vol I Number 11

December 24, 2010

The A,B’s of Winemaking

First an apology for having been so long in adding to the Blog. The graphic here is part of the explanation (excuse). The Harvest Moon. Harvest of the grapes. A busy time for a winery. The grapes have never looked so good. This year, the full moon coincided with the autumn solstice. A rare happening and if the heavens have a role in determining subsequent events there has been no disappointment in the moments that have since passed. I will get to those but for now a break to some things a little more light hearted, a photographic tutorial of the basics of winemaking.

Note that the “C” is missing from this Blog’s title. The reason is I don’t know everything there is about making wine. I may be the only winemaker (or wine reviewer) you will ever meet who admits he doesn’t know everything. Let alone everything about making wine. I have already stated that I don’t really make wine at all. I am reminded of the story of the genetic scientist who bragged to God that he had discovered how to make life.

“Is that so?” an interested God replied.

“Yes,” the scientist boasted. “Give me a couple of shovels of dirt and I will make you life.”

“Uh, uh,” God responded. “Get your own dirt.”

I don’t make grapes and I don’t make yeast (the only ingredients you need). I only nurture them. The growing of the fruit and the selection of the clones, I believe, are the essential element in winemaking. So….

FIRST YOU TAKE A GRAPE

(I have similar recipes for making pea and leek soup)





Grapes are tested in the field for ripeness. A rule of thumb is that you want fruit of about 24 degrees brix. This will theoretically give you a wine of 12 percent alcohol. A telescope like device called a refractometer measures sugar in the field. Juice from several bunches of grapes needs to be tested.

It helps immensely if you have additional pickers. Shown are two of the greatest guys I know: Beto (right) and his younger brother, Aaron. They have been working for me on their days off or when they can’t find other work with the trust that I will pay them upon sale of the ranch or when I obtain financing. They are hard working, work with their heads and their hearts, and are the greatest asset this vineyard has. While I have done everything in my arsenal, I still haven’t succeeded in either sale or refinancing. Aaron and his wife, Nellie, are expecting their first child any day. On this day before Christmas, I have opted to extend a small portion of what I owe them at the expense of my mortgage payment. They aren’t my employees, they are coworkers and friends. The compensation that I extend, and will extend, does not represent my gratitude.

I am as disgusted as anyone with the failed policies of our government and their guarding of our borders, these guys are here legally, not only assets to my life, they are assets to this country.

Then You Smash It

The crusher-destemmer is an Italian design. Grapes and stems from the field are dumped into the hopper and then feed into two rollers that crush and destem. The stems are pushed out to the trash bucket and the crushed grapes and juice fall into the bin below. Yeast naturally occurs on the skins of grapes in the field. I have a wonderful, aggressive naturally occurring flora and elect to not add commercially prepared yeast. I want to express the land. I don’t fertilize, use any pesticides or herbicides, don’t even add sulfites during fermentation.

And You Wash Buckets and Fermentation Tanks

The buckets and primary fermentation vessels are food-grade plastic or stainless steel. I like a Sodium Percarbonate solution (oxiclean) for cleaning and sanitizing. The fermentation vessels are sanitized with a Potassium Metabisulfite solution.

When making red wine, you pour the crushed grapes and juice into the primary fermentor, skins and all (a few stems). The color of red wine is derived from the color of the skin. During the week to two-week fermentation, the cap forms on top, floating grapes and skins. Several times a day, the cap has to be punched down so that the color and tannins can dissolve in the liquid.

Red Fermentation

Fermentation can be almost violent. It sounds like a giant bowl of Rice Crispies. The tank is warm to the touch. The yeast converts the sugar to alcohol. A hydrometer is used to measure sugar. When it gets near zero, it is time to press and send to secondary fermentation.

And You Wash Buckets and Fermentation Tanks

The Press is Italian Design Dating to the Romans

The “must” is scooped out of the primary fermenter and dumped into the basket of the press. The modern press has a bladder in the center that is inflated when the press is full and lid in place. The juice that runs out without pressing is called free run. The pressed must offers more tannins and gives wine its character. Free run is smoother and some wines are made exclusively from it. Not mine.

White wines are pressed after coming out of the crusher. You don’t want the skin color, although one winery I respect does ferment their whites like their reds. The result is a little more amber than clear. White Zin lovers might enjoy the fact that their wine is made from the same grapes as red Zin, it is just pressed after crushing to avoid color extraction. I don’t make white Zin.

Secondary fermentation can take months or years. The wine is “racked” several times. “Racking” is just pumping off the wine from the “Lees” (yeast, seeds, solids left from pressing). Some wineries will filter. I haven’t yet, but reserve the right. The result of filtering or “fining” (using clearing agents) is less sediment. This is where personal preference comes in. My wines will often have a little sediment in the bottle and may need decanting. I use the analogy of coffee. I like espresso coffee with its full rich flavor and make my wines according to that preference. I just think that filter and fining takes away from the wine and its ability to enhance and be enhanced by food. I do use a filter in my daily coffee, however.

I do like the effect of oak on my reds but not my whites. Most of my reds do spend part of their life in oak barrels.

The Finished Wine is then bottled…oh and consumed.

That’s it. Except….

You Wash Buckets and Fermentation Tanks

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Outta Sync

The Wine and Proses Blog

Vol I Number 10

July 31, 2010

A short Happy(?) History of Banking in America

PART 4

This is the fourth of a four-part segment about a particular wrath encountered during and after the publication of WRATH. Little did I know then. You may want to scroll down and start with PART 1

The words of that second reverse loan officer still give me chills. I did query her on my particular situation and all of her replies were positive. I could have gotten the Jumbo Reverse.

The loan officer that turned me down for a reverse mortgage had now left Wee Fleesco. He was in private practice doing reverse mortgage brokering. I approached him openly with a phone call and office visit. I presented a two-fold agenda :(1) I wanted to find out if there was anyone with a jumbo reverse and (2)get his explanation for turning me away in light of what the other Wees Fleesco agent had told me.

Fortunately for me, I was out in the field when he returned my call as all was recorded on my answering machine: There were no real jumbo reverses now available, and Wees Fleesco “STOPPED MAKING JUMBO REVERSE MORTGAGES IN FEBRURARY OF ‘08” He went so far as to state that the other loan officer was mistaken. All recorded as evidence on my answering machine (and now copied on to a tape recorder). I have subsequently gone to the county recorder’s office and pulled recordings of Wee Fleesco Jumbo Reverse loans in August of 08 and even one in September. I am dumbfounded. Particularly in view of what has happened this last year.

By late Spring of 09, I saw the situation as potentially serious but was hell-bent to not be defeated by it. In my third blog, I talk about taking on traits of loved ones who die. I would like to think that I have my mother’s TRUE GRIT. There are history books that cite my ancestors preceding William Penn to what is now Pennsylvania . I would like to think that when I leave this planet there is more than if I hadn’t been here. And that it’s better.

But I just get so tired. The cure for exhaustion is not exhaustive work. As I would be educated one evening as I tried to milk the last of daylight to mow the dog run. It isn’t lawn, it is native grasses and weeds that dry up by summer. But in the Spring, the foxtails come out and if I don’t keep them down, they have a nasty way of finding their ways into canine nostrils and ears.

I had already put in a full day, and was typically exhausted. I have a riding lawn mower, so the activity isn’t so strenuous. If the battery is charged. But on this evening, there was no response to the turn of the ignition key. I proceeded to push the “tractor” to the front of the garage. Not a small feat as it is a 35 horse -- one of the biggest Sears sells. As I struggled on the dirt driveway, my feet slipped. The aggressive treads of the tractor dug into my shins. Fortunately I was wearing long pants. It hurt a little but my adrenalin was up, angry at my own clumsiness. That helped move the tractor, too. It wasn’t until I climbed into the seat that I noticed the damage. My socks were full of blood.

In the interest of expediency as it was getting dark, I flushed my shins with peroxide. The skin was gone from both in wounds the size of a softball. I then completed my mowing, in a state of shock. That was the moment that I realized then that I was going to have to sell my ranch.

That wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I was on a direct path of severe injury if not death. It took three months for those legs to heal. In that time, I wrote to the president of Wee Fleececo. There was a big drive on renegotiating loans for those companies that had received TARP funding. I hoped and initially thought that I would get some help. It took over a month for anyone to call back. The message I got on my answering machine was from “THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT (of Wee Fleesco).” I was told somebody was being assigned to assist. From the time I sent the letter to the time I talked to my “assignee” nearly two months went by. For the first time in my memory, I missed a payment on a credit card, then another. Then my mortgage payments. I had been trying to sell the Porsche at that time and four different buyers who had promised to appear with cash, cancelled out on the night before we were to transact.

The sum of the assistance from the “OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT” was phone calls not returned, phone appointments not made and finally an explanation of the current reverse mortgage program (which was half of the one offered in ’08) which I could have gleaned off of the internet in 15 seconds. Actually I had found it on the internet, and the information the “OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT” provided was slightly inaccurate. In truth, they didn’t give a damn about negotiating. I hadn’t taken out loans beyond the value of the property. They would have no trouble selling my ranch for their money. Real worth, and 19 years of m