Dec. 29, 2019 - Jan. 4, 2020

Weather | 12/29, 1.30" rain, 49°, 53° | 12/30, 27°, 32° | 12/31, 29°, 36° | 1/1, 22°, 49° | 1/2, 37°, 52° | 1/3, 31°, 40° | 1/4, a few snowflakes overnight, 31°, 39° |

• Sunday, 12/29: Today is our 29th anniversary. Bill left, after a venison stroganof dinner, at 2:30 pm. Katie finished her moose cross-stitch and took Plato and Amber on a walk on the East Trail. We played Sorry, a game that Katie picked out, in the evening and then watched the WW I movie, They Shall Not Grow Old, along with its extras.
• Monday, 12/30: At 9 am, we got a call from Dr. Carson, our vet in Hannibal handling Mocha. He said he's given her several enemas. X-rays still show something he can't recognize, but she's eating and seems normal...said the unrecognizable item might be just something "kitteny" that she'll grow out of. Said we could proceed with exploratory surgery, or take her to Quincy for an ultrasound. Both cost about $250, each. He recommended getting her home and seeing if she can come out of it on her own. Mary said fine to his recommendation. After morning chores, we went to Hannibal. One of the vet assistants said Mocha demands attention anytime anyone enters the cat kennel area. The 3-day stay, 8 enemas, 4 x-rays, and stool softener medicine cost us $237.15, which we thought was very reasonable, considering all that they did. Mocha snuggled with Mary on the way home. Decided to introduce her to our herd...normal cat reaction from our cats to Mocha...they hate her and hiss at her. Plato went up sniffing her and got too close, so Mocha smacked him on the nose. First, she ate 6 cat food pieces, then 8 pieces. In the evening, she ate for 10 minutes straight. Katie and I left for St. Louis at 3 pm, so she could catch her flight to New Orleans. Dropped off cat dewormer that we didn't use at Tractor Supply in Troy, MO. Katie's flight was delayed. The screwed up St. Louis airport, Lambert Field, has 2 terminals, 1 for departures and 1 for arrivals. Went to Terminal 1, which is departures. Southwest, who Katie is flying with, wasn't listed there. Went to Terminal 2, which is for arrivals, and Southwest is there for both departures and arrivals...what a stupid mess. Signs indicated arrivals and departures based on terminals. You're just supposed to know that Southwest's departures are at the arrivals terminal. Dropped Katie off and went to Bill's apartment. He shopped after work, so I waited a little while for him, then we drove to a nearby Best Buy and recycled more electronic junk...a printer/scanner, a Gateway 12-volt AC/DC converter, and an HP laptop. Ate at the House of India restaurant. Food was delicious. Went to Bill's apartment and watched the 2002 Bourne Identity movie.
• Tuesday, 12/31: An early morning text from Katie indicated she got to New Orleans, but her luggage didn't make it with her. After a shower, woke up Bill and ate an egg breakfast in his apartment. Bought gas for $2.09 a gallon and drove home. Stopped at Hannibal to buy a couple items at Aldi, including a New Year's celebratory bottle of Irish Cream. Got home just before noon. Enjoyed a chicken, sweet potato meal. We let Mocha out. She's eating and drinking with gusto and most importantly, pooping. Katie texted that her bag came in. We watched 3 sessions of Ken Burns' Civil War miniseries, but dozed off through the third one.
• Wednesday, 1/1: Kind of tired from all the driving in the past 2 days. Mocha seems to be doing well. Eats on a regular basis. She's getting along best with the dogs. She explores every so often, so we chase her around the house while she's doing this, since we don't want her getting hurt from other cats. Mary washed sheets and furniture covers. We took down the Christmas tree, dusting ornaments as we put them away. Moved living room furniture back into better positions, giving us more room. Watched episodes 3 (since we slept through it last night) and 4 of the Civil War. Katie texted photos, videos of her visits around New Orleans.
• Thursday, 1/2: Feeling tired again today...attribute it to after holidays "ahh!" moment. Mary washed clothes. She wrapped up some skeins of yarn she got for Christmas into balls. I applied labels to my 27 pear wine bottles, placed them horizontally into 2 boxes apples came in and stored them in the upstairs north bedroom, turned to the wall to keep them dark and the wine corks away from cat claws.While bringing back mail and the garbage can from the gravel road, I heard a bald eagle, looked to the east and saw 3 large lumps in a cottonwood tree. Told Mary when I got to the house and with glasses, she saw 3 bald eagles sitting in that tree. They let out with their song every so often. Had venison General Tso for main dinner. Read in evening. I finished the 4th book of the Captain Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian, called The Maritius Command. Mocha was very busy exploring the house today.
• Friday, 1/3: Seemed like we babysat a kitty all day. Mocha didn't poop overnight, so we gave her a dose of stool softener. She found a liter box in the freezer room and did her duty. She wasn't eating, so Mary cooked up a little piece of sweet potato and a bit of turkey meat. She snarfed the sweet potato, then the turkey, then a few pieces of cat food. Mary made chili. We watched more of The Civil War. After the movie, Mocha vomited her sweet potato, then drank a bunch of water. I slept with Mocha in the recliner in the north bedroom to keep her warm.
• Saturday, 1/4: About 4 am, Mocha crawled out from under a blanket and barfed up more sweet potato on the Mid-Rivers wall calendar under the litter box and on the carpet. I cleaned up, told Mary about it, and went back to bed. After getting up and eating breakfast, decided not to call the vet, since Mocha ate and drank yesterday. After the vet office closed at noon, she drank a couple times and barfed liquid vomit. She's not eating today. Left a voice mail with the vet explaining that we will show up at opening time (8 am) on Monday with Mocha. Katie got tickets to the Vikings/Saints football playoff game tomorrow and she texted us that she "volunteered to be one of the military big flag people in Sunday's game." She added to watch for the military person with the red ball cap. I updated our checkbook register, did some checkbook balancing, and assessed the credit card balance. Mary worked on a puzzle that Katie gave her for Christmas in the evening.

Dec. 22-28, 2019

Weather | 12/22, 29°, 53° | 12/23, 32°, 58° | 12/24, 37°, 59° | 12/25, 41°, 63° | 12/26, 38°, 49° | 12/27, 30°, 43° | 12/28, 37°, 55° |

• Sunday, 12/22: I made waffles for breakfast. Mary baked cookies. Katie reviewed presents she ordered that got sent to us, then wrapped Christmas presents. I drove to Quincy and bought an air bed from Menards and fresh veggies from Aldi. The air bed took some time, because they had only 1 and it was on the bottom of a shrink-wrapped pallet in the back. Katie wants to do cross stitch, so Mary gave her a pattern book. Katie poured over it and picked out a pattern of a moose. Mary got Katie materials and helped her get started. We watched the Love Actually movie. Katie inflated the new air bed. It's a queen size and 22" high, so it's the height of an actual bed with a frame.
• Monday, 12/23: Our new kitten didn't eat for a couple days, so we decided to take it to a vet. Called the General Veterinary Clinic in Hannibal when they opened at 8 and they said to bring it in immediately. Katie grabbed it after chasing it around the north bedroom a bit. Turns out it's a female, so her name is Mocha. Loaded her into a pet carrier and into the car. Got to the vet clinic at 9:30. The vet was excellent. Mocha weighs 1.8 pounds, so estimated to be 2-3 months old. She got some dewormer. Had flea excrement in her fur, so she also got flea medication. Got an appointment for 2 weeks, to give Mocha another batch of dewormer and initial vaccination shots, if she's eating better by then. I held her for the first time in the vet office. She's very affectionate and purrs like a freight train. Bought gas and Katie a coffee at Hannibal. Back home at noon for our first meal of the day. Mary made blackberry bars, pumpkin pies, and speculaas cookies. Katie worked on her moose cross stitch design. I spent time with Mocha.
• Tuesday, 12/24: Mary made a pistachio torte and put the bed down in the upstairs north bedroom. Mocha immediately decided that was her bed, thank you very much. Bill arrived at about 1 pm. He quietly sneaked into the house and Amber barked at him, then Plato and Amber wiggy-wammed him all around the kitchen. Mary and Katie cleaned up the veggies. Mary and I saw a V of cackling geese. Bill, while laying down on the bed, got to where he could pet Mocha. She really likes him. We all got to petting her. She's very thin, but eating some dry cat food...won't touch the wet food. We played Triopoly and drank a bottle of wine. Katie won the game. We watched A Christmas Carol and got to bed around midnight.
• Wednesday, 12/25: Unwrapped presents after breakfast. Some very thoughtful presents from Katie and Bill. I called Mom after unwrapping presents and Katie and Bill got to talk with her for quite a few minutes. We did a wienie roast outside. Perfect day, with sun and temperatures in the 60s. We saw a couple Vs of snow geese heading west. We watched the movie Tolkien, a very good movie. Mocha is very affectionate (see photo of Bill & Mocha below).

• Thursday, 12/26: I changed the chain on the chainsaw and Mary, Bill and I drove the tractor/trailer to the edge of the woods SW of the house. I cut down a dead red oak tree, but down really isn't the correct word. This tree was thick with branches to the ground, so it stayed upright the entire time I sawed it up into firewood chunks. Had to continually cut off lower branches and drag them out to the field, then cut off chunks of firewood. Katie showed up and helped with loading firewood. Then, Mary and I unloaded firewood into appropriate locations. Had nachos and watched the Katie & Leopold movie. Mary used a syringe to try to get chicken broth into Mocha. She's too thin and not getting nourishment and liquids.
• Friday, 12/27: Called the General Veterinary Clinic in Hannibal to get Mocha in with a 1:45 pm appointment. Mary came this time. We saw Dr. Robert Carson, the principle vet who bought this clinic in 1976. He's very good. Gave Mocha an xray and showed it to us. She's got a lot of blockage in her colon and 1 item that he couldn't identify in her belly. He is keeping her and giving her an enema. Said he'd call with information as he knew more. After getting home, I washed and scraped labels off 12 wine bottles. We watched the first 4 episodes of Long Way Around, a series about Ewan McGregor and his friend taking motorbikes from the UK to New York, via Russia, several other countries, flying to Anchorage, then driving through Canada and across the U.S. It's very interesting.
• Saturday, 12/28: Since I didn't hear from the vet, I called when they opened at 8 am. Dr. Carson answered the phone. He had already given Mocha her 3rd enema since we dropped her off and took an X-ray. She still has 1 blockage left to remove and the unidentifiable item looks like another ball of poop, so he's going to continue to try to get that to pass. Bill & I washed/delabeled 23 wine bottles to give me a total of 35. Then, Bill made pizzas. After eating, Bill & I sanitized bottles and equipment. We racked the pear wine to the brew bucket and added 1 crushed Campden tablet and 2.5 teaspoons of potassium sorbate (stops any remaining yeast from working). Then, we bottled, with Bill filling bottles, Mary holding full bottles upright and me installing corks. Decided that the bottle-filling device I have isn't as good as what Bill has...a bottling bucket with a on/off tap at the bottom of the bucket. Also found it best to have 3 corks soaking in order to better slip them into the bottles. Bottled 27 bottles holding 750 ml, each (see photos below). Was about 5.25 gallons. Now we wait a year for the pear wine to age. We tasted what didn't get bottled. It tastes better than the last time we tried it. Age will probably make it even better. Dr. Carson called around 3 pm. Mocha still was bound up. He was going to continue to do enemas to get Mocha to pass the final material out of her bowels, naturally, but if that doesn't work, he'll have to do surgery. She will be home by Monday, at the earliest, if this all goes naturally. If surgery is involved, it will be several days later before she'll be coming home. We cleaned up the wine bottling stuff and watched the last 3 episodes and extras of Long Way Around.

27 Bottles of Pear Wine

A Bottle of my 2019 Pear Wine

Dec. 15-21, 2019

Weather | 12/15, 4" snow or 0.44" moisture, 15°, 20° | 12/16, 15°, 29° | 12/17,  11°, 23° | 12/18, 8°, 27° | 12/19, 25°, 38° | 12/20, 27°, 45° | 12/21, 29°, 49° |

• Sunday, 12/15: It started snowing at 10 am and snowed until midnight, giving us 4" on the ground. No firewood cutting, splitting, or stacking today. My sore muscles are thankful. Fed only 1 kitten in the machine shed. We think the fluffy orange kitten got too bold and was nailed by a wild animal overnight. Mary baked an apple pie. As darkness was coming on, we tried to get the remaining kitten to eat in the machine shed. It just meowed, but wouldn't eat. It was very cold and lonely, without its litter mate. Decided we needed to help it. I put a package of soft food, tuna-salmon flavor, in a bowl and grabbed a pet carrier. Unfortunately, it was our small carrier, so I gave the bowl of food to Mary and ran back to get the larger pet carrier. When I returned to the machine shed, I asked Mary if she saw the kitten and she said, "I have the kitten." It ran up to the food immediately. She tried to grab it and failed. It came back. She petted it and then grabbed it. The kitten struggled a little, but was too weak to put up much of a fight. We put it in the carrier with the bowl of food. It freaked out and dumped wet cat food all over the inside of the carrier as I hauled it inside. We took it to the upstairs north bedroom, set up a litter box, water, and food, and let it loose with the door to the bedroom shut. It ran for under the stuffed chair. Turned on a lamp and let it be. Returned a few more times and it always hid behind a blanket under the bookshelves. We wrapped Christmas presents. I asked my former Petco workers for good, yet inexpensive, veterinarians. Molly had the best advice, the General Veterinary Clinic in Hannibal. I looked them up online. They look good. Once this little guy or girl is tame, we'll go get it neutered and get it a set of shots. Yes, we now have 6 cats. Sleeping arrangements might be altered for Christmastime visitors. Someone is getting the room with the kitten, we just don't know who, yet.
• Monday, 12/16: Mary cooked up a midday meal of cod and sweet potatoes. I was a bum. Don't see much of the kitten when we enter the upstairs north bedroom. It did use the litter box and ate and drank. We suspect it was once inside a home and was dumped near our place. Got a message at 8 pm from FedEx that the delivery of our package wasn't attempted, due to weather...4" of snow didn't stop the mailman from delivering. We researched and decided on some loose leaf teas, which we'll buy after Christmas using a $50 gift card reward from our bank. We figure an after-holidays purchase might avert shipping issues. Plus, Stash Tea doesn't ship with FedEx.
• Tuesday, 12/17: We've got deer tracks in the snow all through our yards and by all of the out buildings. Spent an hour in the morning and an hour at night with our new kitten. It came to within a couple inches of both of us in the morning session. It knows to use the litter box instantly...no training necessary. In the evening, it ate an adult portion of wet cat food, producing a huge belly. There's no problem with its appetite. Haven't been able to determine its sex. Decided to call it Mocha if it's a girl, and Binx if it's a boy. A package Katie sent is now back to supposedly being delivered by FedEx. I texted her, advising her to change its destination to the Quincy Walgreens store. I found a 2x8 board, cleaned it up, and installed the nutcracker on it. Tried cracking a black walnut. It worked great. I cleaned the 30:30 rifle I used for deer season. Boxed up 35 empty wine bottles that I'll clean, remove labels, in the future. Didn't want to be trying to dig them out of the downstairs west bedroom when a kid will be in there during holidays. Removed anything important out of the old Lenovo laptop, removed the hard drive, purposefully damaged it, then reinstalled it. Will drop it off at Staples for recycling in the near future.
• Wednesday, 12/18: Plato and Amber always roar out the house door when we walk them, running north to woof at squirrels or bunnies. This morning, Plato came back with a big bunch of fluff in his mouth. Mary asked him to drop it, which he did, and it was a dead squirrel. He nailed it. He was very proud of himself. This explains the mystery of the dead squirrel a couple weeks ago. Mary tossed it into the north woods and while doing so, saw a beaten-down path into there by coyotes. It was an amazing, sparkling spectacle of frost-laden grass, tree branches, and cedar boughs this morning as the sun rose. I took down 1 of the 2 ceiling light fixtures in the kitchen and hung a new 7-bulb chandelier fixture in its place. The old 2-bulb fixture had cloth-covered wires on the backside of it. Good to be done with that! The new light is 1000% brighter. I cleaned the bathroom sink drain. Rust in the device that opens and closes the drain will require a replacement. I smashed several hickory nuts with the new nutcracker. It works well, but it takes time. After 1.5 hours, I had a little bit of nutmeats in a sandwich bag. I cleaned up and stacked at the back door several old electronic items to recycle at Staples, including a Gateway desktop computer, its monitor, its speakers, a Lenovo laptop, and a VCR/DVD player. Mary figured her monthly menu and drew up a shopping list. A FedEx email announced that our package is finally at the Quincy Walgreens store.
• Thursday, 12/19: We shopped in Quincy. Had to charge the Cadillac's battery, first. It was dead. Lower price for aluminum can recycling. Uploaded iPhone operating system 13 for my phone while on the Quincy Library's wifi. Also downloaded an audio book. Ate at Chinese restaurant where we swore 2 years ago we wouldn't eat there, again. We won't eat there, again. Picked up FedEx package at Walgreens. Dropped off electronic stuff for recycling at Staples. They won't take VCR/DVD player. Bought pet food at Farm & Home. Got bathroom sink drain ball rod assembly at Menards. Grocery shopped at Sam's Club, Walmart, County Market, and Aldi. Got home at 4:30, did chores, unloaded car, ate an Aldi pizza, and watched the Trading Places movie. Bill texted, asking about Saturday's schedule and I responded. Checked Gateway Arch info online. Sent texts to Katie and Bill related to visiting the arch.
• Friday, 12/20: I cleaned up the 2 tube-type TVs and moved them to behind our entrance door. Cleaned our rug shampooer (it had Merlin's pee on it & took a great deal of scrubbing to get it clean) and put it away in our upstairs bedroom closet. Cleaned up and put away several other items in the downstairs west bedroom, then swept its floor. Mary and I then scrubbed that room's floor with Lysol and a couple rags. We also clipped all dog nails.
• Saturday, 12/21: Mary cleaned house and baked bread. I left home by 7:15 am. Picked up Bill at his place in St. Charles, MO, then drove to Lambert Field in St. Louis and waited for Katie, who flew in on a Southwest flight from New Orleans, arriving in St. Louis at 10:30 am. That is the worst airport in the world for vehicle traffic congestion. After getting Katie, we went to a Best Buy and recycled the TVs...cost $25 each to get rid of them. Then, we went to a Schnucks grocery store and bought lunch...salad for Katie and I and Bill got a sub. Drove to downtown, found a parking garage, and walked to the Gateway Arch. Spent over an hour in the museum, then took the tram to the top of the arch and back. Then, drove to the Sameem Afghan Restaurant in the Grove neighborhood of Forest Park. The food is excellent. Bought some cat food and a syringe at the St. Charles Petco store. Couldn't find cat deworming medication, so called a couple places. Dropped Bill off at his place and picked up his air bed. On the way home, bought some dewormer at Tractor Supply in Troy, MO. Ran into a dog while slowing down to the first stop light coming into Hannibal. Pulled off the road. Katie walked through the woods down the hill where I hit it, but couldn't find it. Got the Hannibal Police's phone number and called them. Two squad cars showed up. While one was getting info from us, the other officer found the dog. It was okay. That took us about an hour. Got home around midnight. Bill's air bed had a 4-5 inch slice in it, so Katie slept on the couch.

Dec. 8-14, 2019

Weather | 12/8, 33°, 50° | 12/9, 19°, 47° | 12/10,  12°, 31° | 12/11, 17°, 37° | 12/12, 27°, 49° | 12/13, 24°, 49° | 12/14, 26°, 27° |

• Sunday, 12/8: Woke at 6 am, ate a sandwich and hunted the Cherry Tree Stand. Got there at 7, crawled up onto the stand, looked down to load my gun and realized I didn't wear my hunter orange vest that has the bullets in the pockets...boy, what an idiot! Walked back, got my vest, returned to the stand, and was boiling hot due to my quadruple forced march. Didn't see deer. Thought I heard some under the cedars immediately south of the stand, but that might have been rabbits or squirrels. Not a good idea to go hunting while the sun is rising. Mary washed sheets. I hunted the SE deer blind at 2:30 pm. Didn't see a single deer. Saw a small coyote trot by, running south to north. Saw gobs of squirrels...one came up to 3 feet away. Heard turkeys landing in the trees NE of me, two great horned owls hooting in that same general area, and coyotes howling in the woods just north of me. Tonight's the end of deer hunting. Got 1 doe on opening day. Including most of part of one of last year's deer, we have a total of 42 packages of venison in the freezer, so we're not hurting. Also, this means we're doing the traditional smorgasbord meal at Christmas, instead of some venison thing Mary was going to do. It also means we go back to normal life, instead of not planning, in case we had to spend time butchering a deer. That makes Mary happier. Watched The Holiday movie. Katie texted at 11:15 pm that she is in Anchorage. I texted back, asking how her flight was and she called. She was eating Thai food at a restaurant. They had blizzard conditions in Mertarvik for 2 days, but temps warmed when she flew out today. She said it was different flying into Anchorage in a small plane. With a jet, you drop out of the clouds and there are the town's lights. In a small plane, you see Anchorage's lights a long way out. Her flight out of Anchorage is Wed., 12/11, so she'll be there for a few days.
• Monday, 12/9: Started out as a dark, cloudy day, but cleared in the afternoon. I used a tank full of gas in the chainsaw and cut up a wagon load of firewood. Unloaded wood in various places, based on its dryness. Mary baked 4 loaves of bread, so she couldn't help me with firewood. While unloading wood in the machine shed, I heard kittens meowing after I said something to myself. They seemed to respond to my voice. Told Mary. She found 2 kittens, both very fluffy, 1 orange and 1 a brownish/gray tabby, both with swirls on their sides. She guesses they're 4-6 months old. She gave them food and water, which they gulped up. They seem to be familiar with humans. We're guessing they were dumped...hate humans! Pulled the cat food and water after dark, so it wouldn't attract wild animals. Mary also found a couple winter wrens in the machine shed...we ought to rename it the zoo. When Bill found out we were doing a Christmas smorgasbord, he asked all gung-ho, "You want me to bring some cheeses!"
• Tuesday, 12/10: Some mornings, when I wake early, I go to the easy chair in the upstairs north bedroom, throw blankets on, and look out the north window. This morning after doing that, I saw 5 doe deer walk by the north edge of our garden, heading to the west. They were happy and sassy, saying, "Nanny, nanny, you can't shoot us!" Mary put feed and water out and the 2 newest outdoor kittens in the Machine Shed ate, then slept in the sun. We don't know their sex, so Mary named them Frankie and Johnnie, from the song by that name. Mary and I moved split wood from the Machine Shed to the woodshed, then cut another gas tank load of firewood from the downed elm tree...this time mainly large pieces that need to be split. We're leaving the rest of that tree for Mother Nature, since it's full of knots and has poison ivy growing up the trunk. We stacked the firewood in correct places. After chores and our nightly meal, we did a Christmas-related job, which took all night, that will be revealed after Santa visits.
• Wednesday, 12/11: I split the firewood from the last 2 sessions of firewood cutting. This job took all afternoon, creating 2 waist-high firewood piles, about 5-foot long. Mary dusted the DVDs. We watched the movie, Miss Potter.
• Thursday, 12/12: I'm sore from several continuous days of firewood work, so took morning and half of the afternoon off. Every morning for weeks, I've been browsing online sites for used pickups. I'm always finding junk, based on the money we have saved up for buying a pickup, so far. Decided to wait until February/March, when we'll have a bigger pickup nest egg, and then look again. Mary and I sorted and stacked firewood into the woodshed and machine shed that I split yesterday. I took down temporary lights in the machine shed and coiled, cleaned up and put away electrical cords. Katie called around 11 am to tell us she made it into Gulfport in the early morning hours. She called in the evening and talked for 1 hour, 24 minutes, while driving to Florida to do her makeup Air National Guard duty. Talked about her job in Alaska, about earlier sunrises here in the Lower 48, compared to AK, upcoming spring college attendance (she's 2 classes away from an associate's degree), ideas on becoming an AK resident, and thoughts about moving.
• Friday, 12/13: FedEx strikes, again. All day, the online tracking of a package indicated it was on a delivery truck. Since a package sent via FedEx was lost Thanksgiving weekend, we monitored this one regularly throughout the day. It never showed. At night, an email indicated that the package had the wrong address, yet the address listed in that email for the package was our correct address. I called FedEx, only got a computerized voice, which said the address was wrong on the package and that only the entity shipping the package could change the address. I sent an email message to the originating company asking them to forward explicit directions on how to get to our home to the Quincy, IL office of FedEx. Mary washed clothes and dusted books. I sharpened the two chainsaw chains. Attempted to cut firewood from a downed white oak tree north of the chicken yard, but it's so wet, it's almost soil, just like it was a year ago. Went to the woods west of the west yard. Cut up a downed red oak tree and several branches. Also, felled a tall red oak tree and cut it into firewood. Loaded a full wagon load and Mary and I unloaded it. There's still cut firewood left in the woods...it was too dark to go back. While doing chores and getting the mail, Mary saw a red-tailed hawk and a sharp-shinned hawk. At the mailbox, Mary saw 10 trumpeter swans flying low and on the way back from the mailbox, a belted kingfisher. 
• Saturday, 12/14: A 3:54 am email from FedEx says our package is out in a delivery truck due to be dropped off at our place today. Obviously, our email worked. We also got a 8:53 am FedEx email that a Florida package is out for delivery. Hopefully, we'll see these 2 packages by the end of the day. Knowing FedEx, they'll screw something up. I drove the tractor and trailer back into the woods and picked up the red oak tree that I cut up yesterday, unloaded it into the machine shed, and split the firewood I cut and hauled in yesterday. Mary helped me stack it. We're now shoulder-high with a stack of firewood in the woodshed. Mary raked leaves and insulated potted blueberry plants with the leaves. Watched The Polar Express and The Seeker movies. We got Mom's package...a case of oranges from Florida. That was delivered, because it was a FedEx package handled by the U.S. Postal Service from St. Louis onward and the postal folks know where we live. The FedEx delivery bozos don't know where we live. The other package that was on a delivery truck never showed up, for the second day in a row. I found a website that is dedicated to complaints about FedEx. They do the same trick around the country. On FedEx's website I found where you can ask for the package to go to a Walgreens store, where you can pick it up. I selected that option. It takes 5 business days for them to do this. We'll be through Quincy after 5 business days and can hopefully get the package before Christmas, since it's a gift. In the future, we will not do business with anyone who ships via FedEx.

Dec. 1-7, 2019

Weather | 12/1, 30°, 34° | 12/2, 25°, 38° | 12/3,  29°, 49° | 12/4, 30°, 53° | 12/5, 27°, 57° | 12/6, 31°, 40° | 12/7, 21°, 44° |

• Sunday, 12/1: Another gloomy, misty, foggy day. We had another turkey leftover meal before Bill left to go home around 2 pm. I finished reading the third Patrick O'Brian book, HMS Surprise. I enjoy these novels. I also looked online at post and beam house construction.
• Monday, 12/2: A huge part of the day was spent looking for a FedEx package that according to a tracking link, was left at our door on Saturday. We were here. FedEx never showed up. We looked all around the property and inside all cars, including Bill's in St. Louis. Mary visited with all 3 neighbors across the gravel road from us. They haven't seen it. In the evening, after Bill said nothing was in his car, Mary texted Katie encouraging her to talk to FedEx and the company she ordered the item from. We'll see what develops. As usual, FedEx delivery really stinks for us. Mary figured all of our monies and funded our various purchasing accounts. I tested the corker I have by putting a #9 cork into 1 of the empty wine bottles. It works great. Ordered a bunch of items online.
• Tuesday, 12/3: Mary washed a load of clothes. Found a dead big squirrel behind the second bin. I hauled it off to the north woods. We cut firewood from an elm tree that blew down the summer of 2018. Mary stacked the wood nearby...the ground's too wet to drive a tractor on. Texted Midwest Supplies, a brewing supply company in the Twin Cities, asking them to add a package of potassium sorbate, a wine finisher that ensures yeast is dead prior to bottling your wine, to an order for wine corks, that I placed yesterday. In the evening, they texted back that they'd add it, but that the finisher was on them, which was very nice, since it normally costs $16 for a pound of it.
• Wednesday, 12/4: Woke to an extremely blue sky. Katie called. FedEx wasn't helpful with the lost package, but in talking to the business who she ordered from, they are sending a replacement to her Gulfport, MS address, so it all worked out. They're mudding in sheetrock walls in the clinic she's working on. She's leaving this weekend from there to Anchorage. Her flight out of Anchorage is on 12/11, so she'll probably be overnighting in Anchorage a couple nights. She goes back to work in May in a village close to Bethel. Mary and I loaded up the cut wood from the downed elm tree and hauled it with the tractor/trailer to the machine shed and woodshed. We built an outdoor fire and cooked up pork loins. Did chores, then ate veggies and dip inside. I did hours of pole barn building research.
• Thursday, 12/5: Mary washed 2 loads of clothes. Found a stubby cat in the machine shed. Saw it scampering away, twice. Had trouble starting the wood splitter. Removed the spark plug. Took a propane torch and burned the gas residue out of spark plug, then cleaned it with a wire brush. Pulled the air cleaner and pulled empty pecan shells out of it...damn critters. When the engine started, more pecan shells ricocheted out of the magneto...goddamn critters! Split wood from the past 2 firewood gatherings...most went to the north wall of the machine shed to dry.
• Friday, 12/6: Today is the first day of a 3-day anterless deer season. Got up at 4:45 am and hunted Bobcat Deer Blind, since a north wind was gusting to 20 mph and I didn't want to be rocking around in the trees while sitting in a tree stand. Saw absolutely nothing...too windy and the deer are hunkered down under cedars. Heard a screech owl and saw a bald eagle way above the trees. Went home and enjoyed hot oatmeal, hot coffee, and a hot woodstove. I took some auto lense polishing material on an electric polishing pad to the crinkled outside tint of the left lense in my old eyeglasses and got rid of the crinkled, wavy pattern on the outside. I need to finish the whole lense, so I can see through it better. Trying this. If it works, I might have a second pair of glasses to use while doing outside work, like cutting firewood. After a squash and taco noodle meal, I hunted under the cedar forest, east of the swim pond and didn't see a single deer. Had squirrels all around me. After sunset, heard several coyotes just east of me. Also heard sirens and when I got home, noticed a fire with big smoke billowing up east of us. Mary and I drove to investigate. Looks like hay bales caught fire in the middle of a field belonging to a farm NE of us. That's not the first time. They must bale wet hay, because their round bales are always catching on fire.
• Saturday, 12/7: Got up at 4:45 am and hunted the Cherry Tree Stand, located in the NE quadrant of our property. My boots crunched on frosty grass. Orion and Sirius were setting in the west. A slight south breath of air was moving. I heard raccoons cussing each other out in the woods east of me. Before legal shooting time, I saw a deer moving and standing east of me...too dark to tell what sex it was. It went back east into the woods. At legal shooting time, saw 3 bucks in succession walk out of the woods east of me, going NW. The last one stood for about 10-15 minutes east of me, surveying the west and sniffing the air. It was a magificent-looking animal. I heard a snort to the north after he went on...probably smelled my scent well down the tree line. None of the others seemed to notice me. A light breeze blowing through a fenceline of cedars obviously hides your scent, for the most part. My last chance for deer will be tomorrow, since we're going to a Quincy Symphony Choir Christmas concert tonight. Katie shows up here 2 weeks from today, so I drew up a to-do list for the next 2 weeks. Mary washed towels. We did chores early and went to Quincy, checked out a couple stores, and were going to eat at Subway, but their subs are now over $7...were between $5-$6 a year ago. Went to Qdoba, instead, to eat. Went next door to Petco, looked at fish, and visited with Taylor, 1 of my old work associates. Fish and small animals are looking much better. Went to the concert that was in the Salem Evangelical Church in the old German district of Quincy. It was first built in 1877, with several renovations since then. The concert was excellent. The place was standing-room only, so we were squished into wooden pews. Got home and had a tea. Got to bed at midnight.