Here's a little tid-bit for all of us wine lovers. Ever wonder how vineyard owners tackle the rodent problem? Imagine what hoards of voracious mice, voles and gophers could do to those lovely grapes. Unfortunately, rodent-icides are not exactly what you want in the soil, so vineyard owners have a lovely solution: BARN OWLS. By placing barn owl houses (big bird boxes) on poles throughout the fields, the resident owls take care of the problem. Simple, natural, elegant. (Now when we visit a vineyard, we'll know what those boxes are all about.)

And we like our bidding to be clean, elegant and effective also. Let's aim for that goal!