Had not considered freezing excess wine for cooking, I still have some left from a big party. Will have to try it, a bit of white wine slurpee would go well when sauteeing chicken or fish. Now if it were rose, I'd just go ahead and drink the 'frose' as they call it.
Have had several more sessions in the yard of goathead digging, probably well over a thousand plants dug up by now, surely a result of last years out-of-hand proliferation.
But, at last the season has turned and the rampant-growth of the summer abruptly ceased, I wonder if these weeds are going by length of day rather than temperature. So now it's down to a couple of patrols weekly, and at better temperatures for working. It'll be interesting to see if the normal harmless desert plants I've been trying to spare will stay and return next year once the goathead competition is gone, and once I stopped letting the neighbor regrade so much of the yard for projects. The pigweed may take longer to beat back, but I'll be ready with acid next time.
The water and sewer are all working well right now; the gate opening motor failed but the neighbor knew how to fix it. Wish there were more reliable units than the ones commonly sold now. When he moves away, I'll either have to learn a very complex system accessed by crawling through a fence and unscrewing (not unlatching) the panel cover, or turn it off and live with manual opening.
Working hard on calorie counting and dropping a few pounds; gradually doing more scratch cooking as needed. Yesterday I stopped at a whole foods co-op and got stocked up on herbs and spices from the bulk jars. Insanely less expensive and fresher than the stuff in grocery stores. Lately people are frugaling out by stocking up on beans and rice, but overlooking the overcharging in the spice aisle.
Also found that the little grocery in the neighboring town is back in good shape with its influx of energetic student workers, so was able to stock up there without dealing with a big chain store.