You know we are getting close to summer when we have cool May-gray mornings giving way to afternoons in the low 70s. Perfect mildew weather for our vines that are blooming and, we hope, setting this year/s crop.

Our sprayers are busy applying wettable sulfur to prevent the mildew from getting started and spreading to the fruit. Rain or extreme heat or cold this time of year could spell disaster and reduce fruit set. So these mild days are welcome by grape growers.

The mild afternoon temperatures were perfect as we celebrated Mother/s Day up and down the Central Coast last weekend. In addition to Mother/s Day, we also celebrated my mom/s 84th birthday on the 11th.

Many of you know my mom lives in Paso Robles near my brother, Dana, and his wife, Marsha. I took most of Friday, May 11, off and took Mom out to lunch at her favorite Mexican restaurant, not too far from her home.

Earlier that morning, Karen and the kids were busy signing cards for her birthday and Mother/s Day as well.

Kathleen was off to school at 7:45 a.m., and Karen and Clayton had a date for lunch to celebrate Mother/s Day at his preschool.

I got to Mom/s house a little before noon. I walked to the front door carrying an armload of cards and flowers from all of us. Mom and her adopted cat Peanut met me at the door.

After opening the birthday cards and finding a vase for the flowers, we were off to lunch. We quickly caught up on family gossip, and the conversation turned to the dry hills and lack of rainfall this season.

Having grown up on Rancho La Vega, where she helped her father, Sam, gather cattle on horseback at a very early age, she knows firsthand the effects of a dry year on all of agriculture.

Mom told me she was just a little older than Kathleen, who just turned 7, when she would get up very early in the morning and ride with my grandfather Sam into the steep hills behind their home on Rancho La Vega.

They had several dogs that would accompany them, along with one of the Ortegas who were working on the ranch at the time.

Mom remembered riding up the steep rocky terrain that led to beautiful green mea-dows with crystal clear streams in the springtime and watching small minnows dart back and forth as the water made its way down the canyons.

She recalled being able to see the ocean from one of the highest hilltops on the rancho. One of her favorite places to ride was the Alisos, a wide, deep canyon with beautiful sycamore trees lining the creek bottom.

She thought they used to gather around 20 to 30 cows and calves each time they would go out. They would drive them to the corrals near the dairy barn that once stood just west of the La Vega adobe.

Mom told me that her mother, Eileen, did not like her going out riding 10 to 11 hours a day at such a young age, but she reluctantly let her go.

They never had a serious accident, as my grandfather always took great pride in his horses.

Mom told me her father, Sam, was riding a beautiful new horse through an area with very large rocks all around when his horse started to buck and eventually bucked him off.

She said it was a miracle he was not seriously hurt, and she had quite a time getting him home. He spent a few months visiting the chiropractor after that fall, and everything turned out fine.

As we finished our lunch, we raised our glasses of chardonnay and toasted Mom/s 84th birthday, many more to come, and Mother/s Day.

We spoke of how lucky Kathleen and Clayton were to be growing up on a beautiful ranch near Los Alamos and how a couple of ponies might not be too far off in our future. We/ll see.

I hope you were able to remember your Mom on Mother/s Day or have as nice a visit as I had with my Mom. I have the day set aside for next year.

Kevin Merrill is a vineyard manager for Mesa Vineyard Management in Santa Maria. He currently is president of the Central Coast Wine Growers/ Association Foundation and a board member for the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau. He can be reached at kmerrill@mesavineyard.com.