Chief Bottle Washer

Today dawned more like the October weather SoCal is famous for - warm but not too hot, a bit drier, and fresher smelling. In other words - bearable for heavy-duty landscaping projects. And I just wasn't in the mood. After a long walk with the dog, and a short visit with the 15 year old tortoise who lives with three dogs, I was pooped. And yet vacation time must not be squandered, so I had to pick something from the to do list and work on it. 

I chose to clean some bottles. Now to be clear, these wine, beer, whiskey bottles and miscellaneous jars have been awaiting attention for about 3 years now. They have been heaped in the back yard, vaguely sorted by color, and need their labels removed. Wind, sun and rain have made a good start, but for the projects I have in mind, they need to be clean of goo and paper. Two large tub trugs did the trick. One held hot water, a squish of Dawn dish soap, and around a 1/4 cup of washing soda. Bottles go in and soak. The other tub held rain water from a rain barrel for rinsing. 

Wouldn't life be grand if it were that easy. Using a scraper, a scratchy sponge, my fingernails and a few choice curse words, I got two loads done. Which was a good start and not even near enough to do a small corner. As I was beavering away at the labels, one fact became very clear. Not all bottle labels are created equal. Those that sport good old-fashioned paper labels clean up very nicely; those that have the new-fangled clear plastic labels don't clean up well at all.
TIP: for projects requiring pristine glass bottles - stick to paper labels. Heineken may or may not be good beer, but the labels don't come off cleanly or without a fight. It takes Goo Gone or some other obnoxious fluid. Not cool.

Does that mean the other bottles can't used? Of course not. It just means they have to be put in projects where labels or residue won't show and won't matter. 

The next step is to start cutting the bottles so they can be used for a border. Fortunately, I already have a tile wet saw and don't have to rely on a manual bottle cutter. Another couple loads of label removal and cutting can start.