Nov. 24-30, 2019

Weather | 11/24, 26°, 55° | 11/25, 37°, 57° | 11/26,  0.12" rain, 31°, 54° | 11/27, 33°, 39° | 11/28, 27°, 39° | 11/29, 0.05" rain, 31°, 36° | 11/30, 0.83" rain, 36°, 48° |

• Sunday, 11/24: Slept in and didn't go out hunting, early. Hunted Wood Duck deer stand with a SW wind blowing at 10:45 am. Didn't see a thing. It was amateur hour with target practice guns going off after frustrated hunters just started plinking cans or whatever. Neighbor farmer to the east started combining corn at 12:45, so I went home and ate lunch. Mary washed curtains, insides of windows, and was ironing them when I got home. Hunted Bobcat deer blind at 2. Nothing until minutes before legal shooting ended at 5:14 pm, when a deer I couldn't see, because it was too dark, walked downwind of me, then snorted off to the north into the woods. Even though there's 2 more days of regular deer season, I'm going to give it a break until anterless deer season on Dec. 6-8. Deer are too spooky with all of the idiots with their new AK-47s shooting rapid-fire at nothing today.
• Monday, 11/25: Since they're predicting windy and wet weather for the next week, we decided to get firewood today. First, I sharpened the 2 chains for the chainsaw and did some basic maintenance on the chainsaw...cleaned the air filter with soap and water and wire brushed the spark plug. Mary washed rugs, scrubbed a couple floors, dumped rancid Pedigree dog food and cleaned out that pet food container for cat food. We cut up a white oak tree that fell over the west trail this summer, along with a few small downed hickory trees. Unloaded wet and large pieces into the machine shed, and dry firewood into the woodshed. Mary worked up a shopping list. Bill called. He has a week coming up after Thanksgiving where he has to work mandatory overtime hours. He says a good thing is that it will probably pay for Christmas, with 30 hours of overtime. We reviewed the Audible website and put several audio books on a wish list.
• Tuesday, 11/26: Went shopping in Quincy. Downloaded 4 Audible books using the Quincy Library's WIFI, while Mary bought 4 books from the library bookstore. Ate at Qdoba. Got my new glasses adjusted. Got a strap at Gamemasters to hold my glasses on my head when I'm working outside. Shopped for food and other items. Got home after dark, unloaded, ate pizza from Aldi, and watched Thor: Ragnarok. A thunderstorm hit at 10 pm. Stars were out when we walked the dogs, later.
• Wednesday, 11/27: Mary did some cleaning, baked 2 pumpkins pies, and made cranberry sauce. I did some cleaning, too. Walked Plato and Amber to the SE blind and then on the east trail, with half of the trail not cleaned out of grass/weeds, but with a tractor trail over it. The dogs loved that walk. Bill showed up around 9 pm.
• Thursday, 11/28: Thanksgiving Day. Katie called in the morning. She's working today. They're putting in metal studs for walls on the inside of the clinic at Mertarvik, AK. In the evening, she texted that she ate a crab legs and steak dinner. Karen and Lynn made it to Mom's house in Circle in the early afternoon. I picked a couple pocket fulls of pecans off the ground before it started to mist. Mary cooked up an amazing turkey dinner with all of the trimmings. It was a 23-pound turkey. After 2 helpings, each, Mary carved up 3 days worth of meat in the fridge and 5 packages in the freezer, worth 10 more meals. We had Bill's homebrewed beer. It was very good. A buck with only his left set of antlers ate Asian pears under the tree at dusk. Took the turkey carcass and dumped it along the north trail as a gift offering to the coyotes. After dishes, we watched the Christmas Vacation, Paul, and Nine Months movies...only snored a couple times. Had pumpkin pie at the start of the 2nd movie.
• Friday, 11/29: The 2nd youth deer hunting weekend starts today. We saw a doe and a young deer cross our lane while walking the dogs this morning. Didn't hear any shooting...kind of foggy and misty, so not a nice hunting day for youth hunters. On the bright side, I don't have to partake in Black Friday nonsense, since I don't work retail, now. I picked some more pecan nuts off the ground under the trees. We put up the Christmas tree. Actually, Mary and Bill did most of the work. Had a thunderstorm after dark.
• Saturday, 11/30: I made waffles. Racked the pear wine for the 3rd time, with Bill's help, from the plastic bucket to the glass carboy. It's a lot more clear, with barely a residue at the bottom. Added 3 crushed Campden tablets and put on the airlock. Then, Mary, Bill, and I tasted the residue left at the bottom of the bucket...about 15 ounces, each. It tasted more like pear, compared to the first tasting. It's really powerful. Discovered, by accident, that pear wine works wonderfully well with green olives, or olive hummus on crackers. While eating nachos, we watched the Star Trek: Beyond and White House Down movies. Done with movies for awhile.