Dec. 27, 2020-Jan. 2, 2021

Weather | 12/27, 26°, 51° | 12/28, 21°, 31° | 12/29, 1" snow, then freezing rain, 0.62" moisture, 20°, 33° | 12/30, 29°, 33°  | 12/31, 20°, 31° | 1/1, freezing rain, 0.61" moisture, 23°, 29° | 1/2, 14°, 27° |

• Sunday, 12/27: Katie Gets Discharged
  
  • Katie was discharged from the Harborview Burn Center and put up in the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Seattle, just a few blocks from the hospital. She's on the 12th floor in a room with a king's size bed. The woman connected through Katie's military reserve unit helped Katie by having her son give Katie a ride to the hotel, and helped Katie haul all of her belongings into the hotel. Katie's burn wounds are healing faster than expected. She is tired of always explaining, even to the head doctor, that she has no one in the state of Washington who can help her change dressings, and arrangements are established for her to visit Harborview’s outpatient clinic daily to get that done.
  • Mary washed towels and dried them on the line outside. 
    
  • Mary made venison stroganoff for our midday meal. Bill left around 3 p.m. for his apartment in St. Charles, MO.
  • An hour after Bill left, the temperature dropped 10 degrees and we had sleet coming down. It didn't last long.
    
    
• Monday, 12/28: Cutting Firewood
  
  • Mary and I cut up and brought in 2 wagon loads of firewood from the NE area of our property, where I've been getting firewood recently. I finished cutting up the last of a downed oak tree trunk, so the pieces were about 2 foot in diameter. I chainsawed them into halves, so Mary could haul them to the trailer sitting in the field. After finishing that tree trunk, I worked on nearby downed smaller trees. We unloaded the first load, then ate a midday meal of leftover venison stroganoff, and then went back for the second load. I unloaded the second wagon load while Mary did chores.
  • Katie got her first night of uninterrupted sleep in her hotel room. She visited Harborview's Outpatient Clinic to redress her bandages. She walked around the space needle's park and went on its tram. She ate her main meal at an outdoor Irish pub down the street from her hotel.
    
    
• Tuesday, 12/29: 30th Anniversary
  
  • Mary and I were married 30 years ago, today, in Red Lake Falls, MN. We celebrated by enjoying a shrimp dinner, accompanied by a bottle of homemade blackberry wine, while watching snow and freezing rain fall outside. It's always best to watch weather like that while sipping wine in the living room next to a cozy and warm woodstove.
  • Weather forecast is for an accumulation of 0.1-0.2 inch of ice with snow on top of that for Thursday night and Friday morning. Since Katie is flying in on Friday, we let her know the forecast. If the forecast comes reality, we won't be able to pick her up at the Quincy Airport. Katie said the airline tickets can't be changed. Hopefully, the forecast is wrong.
  • Katie had the outpatient clinic help her on how she could redo her own bandages in case she gets stranded somewhere while flying. She did her own on today's visit. She said it's not done as professionally as they do it, but she accomplished the feat. Her flights on Friday are on American Airlines, leaving Seattle at 6:15 a.m., arriving into Chicago at 12:14 p.m., then Cape Air, leaving Chicago at 1:14 p.m., arriving in Quincy at 2:53 p.m.
    
    
• Wednesday, 12/30: Tracks Everywhere
  
  • We don't get as much snow here, compared to places I've lived north of Missouri. When we do, we notice how our property is full of animals. This morning, rabbit tracks were all over the snow covering the ground in the chicken yard. A walk down our lane revealed multiple deer that crossed the lane and some of the tracks in the snow were from large deer. A walk around the far garden showed several deer tracks and a couple that jumped the fence and walked across the garden. I noticed coyote tracks near the compost pile and Mary saw some outside of the chicken yard fence. Coyote tracks are long and narrow, whereas dog tracks are round. That's why I knew a neighbor dog walked from the gravel road halfway up our lane and back. Mary saw large cat tracks, probably from a bobcat. An interesting story can be read from animal tracks in the snow.
  • Mary took down ornaments from the Christmas tree, dusted them, and put them away. I helped her remove lights and take apart the tree.
  • I took several screws and secured the plaster board on the sunroom's ceiling. Nails holding several of the boards were failing and letting the boards hang down. It's all tight, now.
  • We watched 2 episodes of Downton Abbey's second season.
  • Katie lined up an appointment with the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis on 1/7/21 at 11:45 a.m. She also has a 1 p.m. physical therapy appointment on the same day.
    
    
• Thursday, 12/31: New Year's Eve
  
  • Mary did a bunch of house cleaning.
  • I cleaned the ceiling of the sunroom, where rain leaks in through the roof, occasionally. The strong bleach/water solution I used killed any chance of mold, but it also meant we aired out the house for a few minutes.
  • I ordered a new brew bucket, since all attempts at killing garlic odor failed in my current brew bucket, which is now my garlic brew bucket. In the order was another 100 wine bottle corks.
  • We enjoyed venison General Tso for our main meal.
  • Katie had a successful final doctor's visit at the Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. They removed all of her bandages and thought she was progressing nicely. She might be able to go back to light work in a couple of weeks. She was planning on visiting a Target store to get luggage for her flight, tomorrow.
    
  • We watched the 2009 movie, The Blind Side, and the 2017 movie, Beauty and the Beast. We also enjoyed a bottle of 2020 pear wine, which only aged 5 days. Our excuse was it had a faulty cork...ha, ha, ha. It tasted great.
    
    
• Friday, 1/1: New Year's Day
  
  • I woke at 6 a.m. with something hitting the east windows. It was sleet and freezing rain. Ice covers everything outside (see photo, below). When the wind blows, tree branches clatter like thousands of castanets (see short video, below). It's a good day to stay inside.
    
  • Katie didn't sleep well in Seattle, with New Year's fireworks going off. She successfully flew from Seattle to Chicago. While she was en route, I looked online, discovering that her Chicago to Quincy flight was canceled. I looked online for hotels near O'Hare and gave her information on a call. She'll be in Chicago until Monday. Cape Air, her connection between Chicago and Quincy, didn't have an opening until Monday. Also, we aren't moving until ice thaws, which is probably Monday, at the earliest. Quincy online news sources report several accidents throughout the area. It's been raining continuously since we got up, along with a little bit of snow, and at 1:30, the temperature is only up to 29. That all equals ice. We talked to Katie after she got into her new hotel room. She was tired and looking forward to ordering some Chicago deep dish pizza.
  • I reviewed apple tree scions (pronounced sigh-ons), which are 8-inch long apple twigs that are grafted onto rootstock to make a young apple tree. After looking at all of the apple scions for sale at Fedco, a seed and fruit tree supplier in Maine, I picked out 29 varieties I liked. Then I narrowed it down to varieties that work best with the ten MM111 rootstocks that I currently own. Next, I read the descriptions off to Mary and we picked 6 varieties that give us fruit to eat and work well with apple cider production. The varieties are Ashmead's Kernel, Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Wickson, Hewe's Virginia Crab Apple, and Porter's Perfection. We already have the following apple trees: an Esopus Spintzenburg, a Grimes Golden, a Jonathan, two Stayman Winesaps, and a very old McIntosh. The Grimes Golden is on a rootstock that doesn't like heavy clay soils, like we have, so I'm going to try to graft it onto an MM111 rootstock, which is the same rootstock under the Esopus Spintzenburg. I was going to try grafting a piece of the McIntosh onto a new rootstock, but I learned that it's a variety which is very susceptible to scab, which we notice yearly on that tree. I've decided to cut that tree down. I'll be busy grafting and nurturing different apple trees this spring.
  • We also ordered 5 packages of garden seeds from Fedco that weren't available when we ordered on the first week of December.
  • Katie called in the evening after sleeping for several hours in her Chicago hotel room. She learned that all of her stuff that was in Nuiqsut was shipped to the Anchorage office of UIC.
  • Bill texted that he spent New Year's Eve with Erin and Mike Push. Bill stayed at his friends' house, then ventured home New Year's Day, when roads were cleared.
    

  

  Ice on door window.
  

  
  
  
  
  Freezing Rain - turn on sound to hear branches clattering.
  
  
  

• Saturday, 1/2: Chipping Ice
  
  • A little bit of sun peeped out from behind clouds in the morning, but soon after, light fog filled the air and temperatures stayed below freezing. I took a metal shovel to the ice on the porch and removed it. Then, I started the Cadillac, turned on all defrost mechanisms, and got all ice off the car, except for a little on the roof and wheels. Deicing the car probably took an hour.
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
  • A large V of geese flew north to south, low over the house...probably 200 birds.
    
  • Mary made flour tortillas in a non-stick pan that Bill gave her for Christmas, then she made chimichangas for our main meal.
  • Katie slept a lot today. Her Chicago hotel is quieter than the Seattle hotel she was in a few days ago. A military friend and his wife took Katie out to a drive-through restaurant. They bought a bunch of food and ate it in the parking lot of the hotel where Katie is staying. We almost split a gut with laughter as Katie described the clothes she's wearing that she says makes her look like a homeless person. Her ensemble starts with sweatpants that are too short. She has slip-on light gray Converse shoes. Next are bright orange socks, then green sweatpants. To top it off is an oversized red plaid shirt. 
  • On game-night Saturday, Mary and I played Pachisi, or as the game company Parker Brothers calls it, Parcheesi. This Indian game dates back to 1100 BC. Mary won two games and I won one game. There are several rules that I've never played with while participating in this game, which made it interesting and fun. We look forward to playing this game, again.
    

Dec. 20-26, 2020

Weather | 12/20, 20°, 45° | 12/21, 35°, 53° | 12/22, 25°, 51° | 12/23, 23° at night, 58° at noon | 12/24, 7°, 21° | 2/25, 2°, 27° | 12/26, 15°, 47° |

• Sunday, 12/20: The Wild Turkey Hen
  
  • While I was loading the chainsaw into the trailer to get firewood, I heard a hen turkey call. Hunters imitate that sound by scratching the end of a stick on a piece of slate. You usually hear that sound in spring and summer months, not the last day of fall. I thought it was a trespassing turkey hunter. While doing evening chores, Mary and I heard it again. We heard it drastically change from NE to due north. The sound moved faster than a human could run, so it was a bird that flew to a new location. We're guessing it was a turkey that lost contact with its flock and was calling to try to get back with other turkeys.
  • Mary baked a batch of lime zinger cookies. I helped her squeeze lime juice out of 6 limes. These are supposed to be cut out with cookie cutters, but Mary just smushed down round balls. They're really tasty. We enjoyed cookies with tea in the evening.
  • Mary found 4 lime seeds in today's limes, something we haven't seen in years of purchasing limes. She carefully planted them. She wants an indoor citrus orchard of her own. I better include that into plans for a new house!
    
  • I cut down a dry, dead red oak tree that was roughly 10 inches wide at the base in the north woods near the entrance to Bobcat Trail, sawed it up into woodstove chunks, loaded them into the trailer, and parked the tractor/trailer in front of the woodshed. The tree broke in the middle when it came down with a big thump. These pieces of firewood are super dry wood that sound like baseball bats when you collect pieces in your arms to move them.
  • We got a tiny egg, the first of eggs from our 6 new pullets. Yahoo! Our 2-3 eggs per week ration will be increasing. Old hens are molting, so egg production is low right now.
    
  • We watched the first 2 episodes of the second year of Downton Abby after dark.
  • Katie updates:
    
    • She had more pain, which, according to nurses, is good, because it indicates she's healing.
    • Katie's newest roommate is preventing her from sleeping at night.
    • She asked if she could walk on the skywalk that she can see on her walks. The answer is no, due to too many overflow patients in the wing she's staying in.
    • Karen and Mom called Katie and talked with her.
    • Several subcontractor friends she works with in Alaska have connected with her to say hi.
    • A bed Katie ordered arrived at her Anchorage apartment. She ordered some end tables.

• Monday, 12/21: Alaska New Years
  • Dad always used to call Winter Solstice an "Alaska New Year's Day," because from this day forward, days grew longer, and it was a true start of a new year, related to sunlight.
  • Mary spent most of today working on a Christmas cross stitch project.
  • She also washed 2 loads of clothes. Drying time was fast, due to a strong NNW wind.
  • I vacuumed flies and Asian ladybugs out of all house windows.
    
  • I split and stacked all of the firewood pieces I cut from yesterday's red oak tree I cut down.
  • We viewed Saturn and Jupiter, that were very close in the sky, after sunset. To me it looked like a vehicle with one headlight that was dim, which was Saturn, compared to the brighter planet, Jupiter.
  • We watched 2 more episodes of Downton Abbey.
    
  • News from Katie in Seattle:
    
    • They sedated Katie at 8:30 a.m., cleaned up her wounds, did some assessments, and brought her back at 10 a.m. She woke with a strong headache, which they helped to get it to subside by giving her coffee, tea, and a cold compress on her head.
    • Doctors will do skin grafts for the burns on her armpit, chest, and underarm area. It will involve 2 grafts, each about the size of a slice of bread. Skin for the grafts will come from her thigh. They tell her the thigh is the quickest at recovering skin.
      
    • The operation will be on Wednesday, Dec. 23. It's scheduled, but if a more serious burn patient comes in, her operation could be postponed until after Christmas, such as Monday, Dec. 28.
    • She spoke with the nurse UIC has assigned to her case, who said it is fine for her to convalesce with us, once she's released from Harborview.
    • Katie also talked with Monica at UIC, who said she can go public with her accident.
    • Since the clothes that Katie has in Seattle are limited, she will buy some items online and have them shipped to our address, so she has a few more choices when she gets here.

• Tuesday, 12/22: It Was a Quiet Day in Lake Wobegon, My Home Town
  • Mary picked up sticks from around the yard and stored them in the Machine Shed to break into usable pieces at a later date and use as kindling.
  • Single digit temperatures are predicted on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning, so we worked on chicken coop chores. Mary put 2 wheelbarrow loads of hay onto the coop floor. Leo, our rooster, chuckled loudly in approval of the new hay. I tighten air drafts by first cleaning dust off wood surrounding windows, then sticking packing tape over cracks where windows close. By quickly running a heat gun over the tape after it's applied, then rubbing it down with a gloved hand, the tape sticks quite well. I got the 2 north vent windows taped, plus 2 or the 5 south windows. I also put old dog bed stuffing in the cavity of the north chicken door, screwed down an inside panel and screwed down the outside north chicken door.
    
  • Mary baked butterscotch/oatmeal cookies. She also washed and dried 3 loads of laundry. A south wind made for a great drying day.
    
  • Katie updates:
    
    •  It was a sunny day in Seattle, according to photos taken through her window.
      
    • An elderly woman gets surgery tomorrow morning. If all goes well with her, Katie goes into surgery tomorrow afternoon (as of this morning...12/23...it's a 1:15 p.m. appointment).
    • Harborview's physical therapist is extremely pleased with how well Katie's hands and face were healing.
    • A connection in Seattle to the Air Force Reserves that Katie belongs to contacted her. They said they would get her clothes and personal items, which by the end of the day, she received. It includes socks, underwear, sweats, sandals, a large and loose-fitting flannel shirt, a toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner, and a suitcase for storing her newly acquired belongings. 
    • Katie is receiving a new drug that deadens the pain from nerve endings, which means she's not feeling as much pain.
    • We got a text from Katie that included a photo of flowers with the words, "Grandma sent me flowers!!!"

• Wednesday, 12/23: Katie's Surgery
  
  • Katie went in for surgery at 1:15 p.m. and got out of surgery 4 hours later. Surgeons grafted skin from her thigh to her right underarm and arm area. Her chest area did not require a skin graft, with enough viable tissue there. Surgeons did a different clean-up procedure on that area. Katie describes it as receiving a W. Katie told the anesthesiologist about always waking up with a headache, so she was given continuous Tylenol in an IV, and given extra liquids, resulting in a wake up that was headache-free. She gets to wear a pillow/cage device on her right arm to keep her armpit area open, allowing the skin graft to heal. Katie said the earliest she'd get out of Harborview is Sunday or Monday. We advised her not to rush getting out of the hospital. Katie finished reading a book on the new Kindle that she received on Monday from Kristen, Mary's sister-in-law.
  • Mary cleaned the house.
  • She also finished cross stitching an ornament and did final Christmas wrapping.
  • I finished taping up the 3 remaining windows in the chicken coop and nailed a board that was loose near the chicken door.
  • I drove to Quincy and bought Christmas veggies and a gallon of steering fluid for when I replace the 6-foot long pressurized steering hose on the Cadillac. Traffic was insane in Quincy.
  • We got 3 eggs, 2 of which were little ones from our pullets. Egg numbers are going up.
    
  • Temperatures went from close to 60 in the early afternoon to the lower 20s at night. After dark, a light snow was falling, but the moon and a few stars were shining through for an unusual weather phenomenon. West to NW wind gusts were over 40 mph.
    
    
• Thursday, 12/24: Christmas Eve
  
  • Mary made a pistachio tort, a dessert that Bill asked his mother to make for Christmas. Mary also cut up fresh vegetables, cut salami pieces and cheese pieces. 
  • Katie called, upset, because doctors told her she would be discharged on Sunday or Monday, even though her surgery was just yesterday, and they wanted her to check back in on Friday (Jan. 1) for a final checkup. She informed her doctor that she had no one in Washington State who could help her. The head doctor suggested she get a hotel room. She talked with her case worker nurse, who then went to work figuring out arrangements for Katie. In the evening, Katie called, with better solutions. First, higher ups in the hospital's staff came into Katie's room convinced she could handle redressing her own wounds. The nurses taking care of her said otherwise, convincing the hospital big whigs that they were wrong. They all agreed that Katie would get a nearby hotel with an in-house restaurant once discharged from Harborview. She will also go to the outpatient part of Harborview daily to get her dressings changed. The head doctor will see her on Friday.
    
  • Bill showed at 12:30 p.m.
  • After chores, we enjoyed a Christmas smorgasbord of 12 various cheeses, salami slices, fresh vegetables, crackers, and ranch dressing dip. We played a game of Triopoly. We enjoyed cookies on breaks in the game. Mary won the game.
  • After the game, we watched A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart, along with a Christmas episode of the TV show, Due South.
    
    
• Friday, 12/25: Christmas Day
  
  • Katie is lined up with a hotel, once she is discharged, which now will be on Sunday. Her wounds are healing quickly. By the afternoon, she wasn't required to wear her pillow brace continuously. She will be seen by her head doctor on Thursday and she will be flying from Seattle to here on Friday, New Year's Day. Airline flights haven't been decided, yet, but Katie told them the nearest airport is Quincy, so hopefully she will fly into the Quincy airport. Katie had calls from her grandmother and from her Uncle Don's (Mary's brother) family.
  • We opened presents starting just before noon. 
  • Texts with Mom revealed she had Christmas Dinner with Patti Schipman's family.
  • Bill and I burned Christmas wrapping and boxes, along with a few animal food bags.
  • We watched the movies 1917 and Finding Nemo, both picked out by Bill. The first movie is a World War I movie that Katie gave her mother for Christmas. It's very intense, but very good. 
  • When we went to bed at midnight, the winds that have been blowing for a couple days quit and all was generally calm, with a slight southerly breeze.
    
    
• Saturday, 12/26: Bottling, Not Boxing, Day
  
  • Bill and I bottled the 2020 pear wine into 22 750 ml wine bottles. Before we did that, we racked the garlic wine into a new glass gallon jug. The specific gravity is at 1.003. We tasted the garlic wine and surprisingly, it tasted very good, considering how horrible it smelled a month ago when it was fermenting. Bill said, "It tastes like it belongs with shrimp." Mary thought it would be good with pizza. It has a garlic flavor, but with sweet, fruity undertones. Bill says it's as if someone mixed a garlic sauce with a zinfandel wine. After the garlic wine, we racked the pear wine into the big mouth 5-gallon carboy, even though there wasn't much for finds at the bottom. Then, we cleaned labels off several wine bottles, which takes over an hour to accomplish. I mentioned to Bill that every time I do a big wine batch, he's here. He said, "YES, I KNOW!" Finally, we bottled and corked the pear wine. About a half a bottle was left, which we drank. This wine that isn't aged is very smooth, with a strong pear flavor, and a tang, that we suspect comes from the Kieffer pears we added to this batch. The specific gravity was still at 1.000, making its alcohol at 11%.
  • We called Katie while drinking the pear wine. Her burn wounds are improving. She got a new roommate, who informed Katie that she is an insomniac, so expect the TV and lights to be on well into the night. Katie was having a hard time hearing us due to chatter from the other side of the room. Hopefully, it's the last night in the hospital for Katie.
  • Mary broke up sticks for kindling in the machine shed.
    
  • We ate nachos and watched Secondhand Lions and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
  • Two bald eagles circled above the house, slowly moving east to west, around noon.
  • We heard coyotes every time we took the dogs out for nighttime walks. One time, they were close...near the gravel road.
    

Dec. 13-19, 2020

Weather | 12/13, 27°, 35° | 12/14, 13°, 30° | 12/15, 15°, 27° | 12/16, 20°, 31° | 12/17, 15°, 37° | 2/18, 21°, 45° | 12/19, 30°, 33° |

• Sunday, 12/13: Burn Day/Meteor Shower
  
  • I burned built-up paper and cardboard box trash, since conditions were perfect...wet ground and slight NW breeze.
  • Mary made minestrone soup from scratch for the very first time (see below photo). It was exceptionally good. 
  • I grated an apple and applied it to the inside of my brew bucket. After leaving it for about an hour, I took the apple goo out with a spatula, then washed the bucket in dish soap and water. It seemed like the garlic smell was gone. According to a Cook's Illustrated article, the enzyme, polyphenol oxidase, which causes browning in apples and potatoes, oxidizes the thiols and thiocyanates that give garlic such a strong odor, thereby eliminating the smell. Unfortunately, that bucket had such a strong garlic odor from garlic wine sitting in it fermenting for a week, that after sitting overnight, it has a slight smell on Monday (12/14) morning. So, maybe I try a grated potato, next.
  • We were anticipating viewing the peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower after dark, but persistent clouds lingered, so we watched another Downton Abbey episode. When we walked the dogs around 1 am, it was clear. So, we took the dogs in, bundled up, and watched quite a show of meteors falling all over the night sky. Some showed off long streaks. I pulled the tailgate down on the pickup, grabbed a sleeping bag, and watched while laying down in the pickup bed. It was easy on the neck, but I couldn't see all of the sky. The meteors came in spurts. You might see nothing for 5 minutes, then you'd see 5-8 meteors, one after the other. Coldness finally put us back inside at 2 am. It was kind of a late night, but worth it.

  

  Mary's homemade minestrone soup.
  

• Monday, 12/14: Firewood Collection Day
  • I cut up an oak tree that fell into Rose Butt Field a couple years ago and loaded the wood into the wagon (see photo below). Prior to going, I had to pour gas into the tractor, then mix up a new batch of 50:1 gas/oil fuel for the 2-cycle chainsaw engine. The plastic 2-gallon gas container I mix the oil and gas into slightly collapsed, due to cool temperatures, so it wouldn't take the full 2 gallons of gas. I set it in the sun to try to get the can to expand. It didn't work, so I "expanded" the plastic by blowing air into the end of the gas nozzle with a hand tire pump, and that worked, allowing me to completely fill the container with gas. It slowed me down in driving the tractor to the downed tree, so by the time I returned home with my firewood load, the sun was setting.
  • Mary's lower back gave her pain, so she spent the day on the couch with a heat pad, while working on a cross stitch Christmas ornament.
  • While I was turning the dial below the glass fuel bowl on the 8N Ford tractor to start it and head back home, a great blue heron flew just above the tree tops over my head, then dropped down into Wood Duck Pond. They are really huge birds when they fly by that close.
  • I shredded 2 potatoes and wiped the potato goo throughout the inside of my brew bucket, then set it, with the top sealed on it, to do it's thing for 24 hours. I hope this takes the final garlic scent out of the bucket. 
    
  • We read online news in the evening. Quite an interesting combination...the U.S. went over 300,000 COVID deaths, William Barr resigned as U.S. Attorney General, and the electoral college confirmed Joe Biden's presidential win.
  • We texted with Katie, Bill, and Mom. Katie's supervisor leaves for Christmas vacation tomorrow, then a bulk of her co-workers leave on Friday. Bill arrives for Christmas break on Christmas Eve morning. Mom is making Christmas cookies and sending Christmas cards.
    

  

  Load of firewood. The end of the tree I'm working
  on is in the background just above the wagon load.
  

• Tuesday, 12/15: Accident with Katie
  
  • Katie's supervisor phoned us at 4:33 pm to inform us that she was in an accident. While running a grinder, a spark ignited her shirt. Her hands, face, and neck received burns. She was bandaged up and they were waiting at the Nuiqsut Clinic for a jet to land to take her to Anchorage for further medical help. Rob, her supervisor, said he will keep us informed. Unfortunately, as of 11:30 am on 12/16/20, we haven't heard a word, nor can I connect with Katie's or Rob's telephone numbers. My next step will be to contact her employer's Anchorage offices, which I will do at noon, 9 am Alaska time, then start calling Anchorage hospitals.
  • Mary baked bread and worked on cross stitch ornaments.
  • I split most of the firewood I cut yesterday, and put it in dry and wet stacks.
  • We watched a movie and 2 Downton Abby episodes. 
  • We stayed up to just before 2 am, in case there was a call from Alaska, but there was no call.
    
    
• Wednesday, 12/16: Katie is in Seattle
  
  • I called Katie's employer at noon, 9 a.m. Alaska time, and was transferred to Rob's telephone number. I left a voicemail. Then, the CEO of Katie's employer and Michelle McCoy, the HSET (Health, Safety and Environmental Technology) manager at UIC (Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation), conference-called me to tell me Katie is at Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. While I was on that call, Rob left me a voicemail. At about 2:30 and again at 5, we talked to Katie. Here are details:
    
    • Katie was given drugs to make her unconscious at about 4 p.m. at the Nuiqsut Clinic, prior to her flight to Anchorage. She was told she'd wake up in Anchorage's Providence Hospital. 
    • She arrived at Providence at 11 p.m. and was stabilized, then airlifted to Seattle at 4 a.m., arriving after 9 a.m.
    • Harborview is part of the University of Washington's School of Medicine.
      
    • They started to give Katie a series of doses to revive her in Seattle. She awoke at the first start of those series, something that normally takes several attempts. She surprised them.
    • Katie is being told burns take 3 days to really indicate their severity. She probably has second-degree burns, but the chest burn is the worst.
    • They also told her that her burns aren't bad enough to require skin grafts.
      
    • Katie told me the thumb and palm of her right hand is burned, 3 smallest finger tips of left hand, palm and wrist are burned, along with her neck to bottom of her ear, her lips, her nose tip, with the worst burns on her right armpit and chest.
    • She was wearing a Carhartt T-shirt with a non-flammable shirt under that. She was grinding off a metal stud with an angle grinder. Her T-shirt showed sparks. She beat on them to try to put them out, but they got worse. She tried to tear the shirt off as the whole thing caught on fire. It didn't tear. The outside shirt and the non-flammable shirt under it were on fire. She removed them over her head.
    • She's talking to us, her brother, and her grandmother. She told Bill that she's hungry tonight. The fact she's talking to all of us is a good thing. She's also in the best hands for her medical situation, as Michelle told me on the phone.
      
  • Mary sawed up several sticks for firewood kindling. 
  • I stacked split firewood into the woodshed, then split the rest of the logs I cut up on Monday.
  • A sliver of the moon was just below Saturn and Jupiter, which are 2 planets that will merge as one image on Dec. 21st. The last time they did that at a time when earthlings could see it was 800 years ago.
    
    
• Thursday, 12/17: Katie is Progressing
  
  • Katie had the following developments today:
    
    •  Katie started the day tired, from a night on her back in a stiff bed, and with a headache she had throughout the night.
      
    • She had the catheter removed.
    • She walked all over the hallways. At one point while walking, someone in a room tried to get her attention, then saw that she was bandaged up and said, "Oh, you're not a nurse."
      
    • She had dressings changed around 11 a.m. and dead tissue removed where possible. The main concern is a white spot in her right armpit area that looks the worse of all.
    • She was moved from the burn center's ICU unit to 2 floors down to a double-occupancy room, but she's the only one in the room right now. It has a door and it will be a lot quieter than the ICU upstairs, where she heard nurses going into all rooms checking on patients every hour throughout the night.
    • She was offered oxy(something) last night to help her sleep, but she refused it. She didn't sleep very well, but didn't take anymore hardcore drugs. She's only taking Tylenol for pain right now.
    • At the Nuiqsut Clinic, she received 2 doses of morphine and 2 doses of fentanyl. She was knocked out and had intubation done to her in Nuiqsut, because they were concerned that throat swelling might constrict her airway. She traveled from Nuiqsut to Seattle in that state, for about 19-20 hours.
      
    • Katie was asked who could help her in Anchorage or Nuiqsut on changing dressings, etc., when she's released from Harborview in Seattle. She has a caseworker nurse assigned to her who reports to Michelle, with UIC, in Anchorage.
    • We told Katie that if and when she can fly out of Seattle, she can come here to our home during her convalescence, if that's possible.
    • Nurses are telling Katie to remember if this happens again, to stop, drop, and roll. She explains that wasn't an option this time, since she was several feet in the air on a manlift. Then, they say, "Oh, I'm sorry."
    • Tomorrow, when dressings are changed and she's examined by doctors, she'll get a better assessment on how long she stays in Seattle. No operation for her means a shorter stay. If they have to operate on her armpit for a skin graft, she will be there longer.
    • Katie's meals are exceptional (see photo below). This meal included pan-seared salmon with orange sauce, cabbage slaw, sauteed green beans, a Mediterranean salad, a brownie, tea, and an Ensure drink.
      
  • We texted and phoned Katie several times today.
  • Mary cracked hazelnuts (see photo below). They're about the size of a pea, so this is a long-term project with minimal, yet tasty, gains.
  • I stacked the dry firewood I split yesterday from the trailer into the woodshed and restacked wet firewood to the drying location in the machine shed.
  • Mary made a shopping list. I'll be shopping in Quincy tomorrow.

Katie's meal at Harborview Burn Center.

Cracking hazelnuts. Remote is for Christmas music.

• Friday, 12/18: Partial Assessment for Katie
  
  • Here's what Katie found out, today:
    
    • The burn on Katie's armpit looks like it's a higher second-degree burn, or almost a third-degree burn. She might have to have surgery for that part of her body, but a final call will come from doctors on Monday.
    • She's doing physical therapy to exercise the skin, so that there is no problem with it as it heals from the burns.
      
    • Katie talked with Michelle from UIC, her employer. Michelle told Katie to take as much time as she needs to get well at Harborview in Seattle. UIC is working to set up workman's comp for her while she's not working. Michelle also told Katie that UIC is okay with Katie going wherever she decides to recuperate. If Katie wants it, UIC can give her light-duty work to do in Anchorage, or at the Nuiqsut job site, although it might not be a good idea to work in Nuiqsut immediately, due to a chance of getting an infection. UIC is reviewing future procedures, namely to create a phone tree, so that future injured workers don't get lost while in transit to health faculties, which is what happened to Katie.
    • Katie will be partially sedated, soon, for nurses to work at taking dead skin off her face.
      
    • Katie's roommate was crying and yelling anytime nurses were in the room, otherwise she was passed out, snoring.
    • Katie received her first shower today. She said it felt really good.
      
  • Prior to leaving to drive to Quincy, the Cadillac battery was dead...so many electronic gizmos on it that if you leave it for more than 2 weeks without starting it, the battery drains out of electricity. On this stupid car, the battery is under the rear seat. I charged the battery, then left home to go shopping.
  • While eating lunch in Quincy, I texted Mary that Quincy wasn't experiencing a pandemic. Instead, it's an antdemic, with human ants scurrying around in cars. Parking lots were packed and in stores, glacial-moving shoppers blocked all aisles. I was lucky to get out of there without whacking some old fart (probably my age) who wouldn't move. I got home after dark.
  • We ate nachos and watched the 2006 movie, The Holiday.
    
    
• Saturday, 12/19: Nick & Holly's Birthday
  
  • Holly and Nick were born under the Christmas tree 11 years ago on this day. Mary brought Rosemary in from the machine shed, because she was freaking out with the bodies to 2 dead deer hanging inside the shed. Mary snatched her, stuffed her in a carrier, brought her inside, and a month later, she had kittens under the tree. She promptly moved them to the laundry room. Rosemary, Holly, and Nick are still with us. Rosemary is still a feral cat, but safe and warm inside our house. Pet her and she runs off, but she often acts like a kitten, jumping over imaginary pixies as she runs down the hallways. Holly is skinny these days, but eats like a horse. Nick loves Mary, rumbling with a loud, babbling brook purr several times a day. Nick is Mary's shadow.
    
  • I was a complete and thorough bum all day.
  • Mary made speculaas cookies. The latest Clabber Girl baking powder we bought at Sam's Club is really poor. Some of the cookies actually shrank when baked. I looked online for the brand we used to be able to buy at Sam's Club...Argo. We might have to order it online, but it's even missing via online sources.
  • The latest from Katie:
    
    • A roommate was moved out and a new roomy moved in with the same characteristics, namely crying and yelling when nurses are in the room, then snoring whenever they're gone. Her lights were on until 3 a.m., and she's gassy. Nice!
      
    • Monica, Katie's boss in charge of multiple projects for UIC, talked with Katie, praising her for how cool and collective she was through the accident and happy to be able to talk to her.
    • Katie said Rob, her jobsite boss, was enroute on a plane to Deadhorse, when the accident occurred. Katie lowered herself down on the manlift. She got a couple sub-contractors to drive her to her apartment, so she could get her wallet, then had them drive her to the clinic, where everyone was gone for a lunch break. She had them drive her to the fire station, then the firemen drove Katie back to the clinic while rousting out the nurses from lunch. Rob promptly flew right back to Nuiqsut after landing in Deadhorse. North Slope medics prepared Katie for an airlift to Anchorage. They're the ones who sedated Katie, prior to the flight.
    • Katie was in more pain, due to the burns healing. She is getting several applications of Aquaphor, a healing ointment.
    • She received a Christmas quilt, donated by a women's LDS relief group (see photos below).
    • A nurse assigned to Katie at Harborview started planning for when Katie leaves there, starting to set up plans for future medical assistance. If she comes here, the nearest burn center is Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. If she goes to Anchorage, it would be telemedicine contacts with Harborview. She might be able to do telemedicine to Mercy if she ends up here.
      
  • We played Yahtzee for our Saturday night game night. I won. We both got double Yahtzees on the final game. It was really fun.
  • Had a 'possum just outside the door for the second night in a row when we let the dogs out. This time, Plato ran up to it and wagged his tail, as if to say, "Hi, friend. You're a funny looking cat." We called the dogs and they responsibly came to us. The 'possum rambled off to under our old Suburban.
    

Katie's new quilt.

The quilt's tag. Very nice folks.

Dec. 6-12, 2020

Weather | 12/6, 25°, 41° | 12/7, 31°, 35° | 12/8, 29°, 45° | 12/9, 32°, 60° | 12/10, 29°, 63° | 2/11, 0.81" rain, 36°, 41° | 12/12, 0.49" rain, 32°, 35° |

• Sunday, 12/6: Last Day of Anterless Deer Season
  
  • After today, we don't have to wear hunter orange vests and hats when we venture outside. We do it to tell any hunters trespassing on our land that we're too tough to eat. We didn't hear any shots close by today.
  • Mary washed a load of shirts. They didn't dry on the outside line, so she dried them inside with the woodstove cranked up.
  • I moved remaining split firewood from the machine shed to the woodshed. A hip-high stack is in the woodshed.
  • I also cleaned up the chainsaw and switched the chain in preparation to sharpening it.
    
  • Mary baked a large pumpkin and put 6 quarts of pumpkin pulp into the freezer.
  • My brew bucket still smells like garlic. I tried hydrogen peroxide. It didn't work.
  • I'm getting the same song and dance from FedEx...they tried delivering the RockAuto package, but nobody was home. We were home all day. FedEx is the worst pack of liars. I sent another email to RockAuto.
  • Sam Cason (was a freshman when I was a senior at Homer HS) sent renting advice that I passed on to Katie. His wife suggested Katie talk to their son, Drew, who's roughly the same age and knows the Anchorage rental market. Sam sent an email to his son and me, which I forwarded to Katie. Sam said to tell Katie to consider the Casons as a reference because, "Us old Homorons have to stick together!"
  • Mary saw a mockingbird under the forsythia bush and a sharp-shinned hawk in a walnut tree. The hawk is about the same size of a bluejay. A bluejay was inquisitively bouncing closer to look a the hawk, before the hawk flew away. We also saw a bald eagle flying over our property.
    
    
• Monday, 12/7: Katie Gets an Apartment
  • After dark, Katie sent a text with THIS LINK to an apartment she was about to look at. It's located off Boniface Parkway, just south of Russian Jack and east of Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage. After she viewed it in person, she was excited, hoping that she would get it. The landlord encouraged her to fill out the online forms today, because he said he liked her professionalism, compared to other applicants. A few minutes after filling out the information, she was accepted. So, Katie now has a place to move to in Anchorage. Her rent is slightly higher, due to her pets, but the only utility she has to cover is electricity. This apartment is tucked into some woods and only a few feet away from a trail to Russian Jack Park. Katie texted, "I'm happy! I had my heart set on this place and didn't want to look for any more places."
    
  • Mary made and canned another 13-quart batch of salsa. That's 2 down and 1 more batch of salsa to make.
  • I drove to Quincy to try to solve the FedEx delivery problem. I went to what's listed as the FedEx Ship Center in Quincy. It's for FedEx Express, not FedEx Ground, which are 2 separate entities, like my son once told us. He knows. Bill deals with shippers daily, at his job. The woman at the FedEx Ship Center gave me the address of the FedEx Ground warehouse. When I got there, the place is surrounded by a high fence and a card-coded gizmo that opens the gate. I pushed a button on the gizmo and a woman inside opened the gate after I talked with her. She called the driver who had my package and had me talk to him. He thought I lived near Highland High School, 7 miles east of us. I explained how to get to our house. I'm sure all FedEx drivers get our address wrong and try to deliver 7 miles away. Then, I asked the woman at the FedEx Ground office how to get around shippers who refuse me changing a destination of a package. She gave me their phone number in Quincy, telling me that if I called her, she would hold the package at that location, so I can pick it up there, something that they won't let happen if I called the national FedEx number, but something that they'd do locally. GREAT! I now have an answer to my FedEx shipping issues. The Quincy FedEx folks are very accommodating. The problem is it takes real work to find this information out, because nothing is available to the public.
  • After buying a few things, I drove back home in time to do chores before dark while Mary finished her salsa canning. My FedEx package arrived as I was unloading the car.
    
    
• Tuesday, 12/8: A Quiet Day
  
  • We didn't do much today.
  • A UPS truck showed up before we ate breakfast with a package. It was sent from Montreal with new moose hide moccasins inside. They're much better than the hole-in-sole moccasins I've been wearing for several months.
  • Mary washed a load of laundry. Again, not all of the laundry dried on the line, so she moved them through inside to the line above the woodstove.
  • We ate a chicken pot pie for our midday meal.
  • I sharpened both chainsaw chains with a file. These chains will last much longer sharpening them with a file versus sharpening them with a grinder. I used the light Katie gave me. It helped me well after dark while sharpening. It's great.
  • Katie texted photos from her apartment showing the trail to Russian Jack Park (see below). We asked her if she was sleeping there and she said no, she doesn't have a bed, yet.

From Katie's new apartment...
Arrow is start of trail.

Start of trail to Russian Jack Park.

• Wednesday, 12/9: BUGS!!!
  
  • Whenever it warms up after cool spells, bugs march into the house through our very penetrable windows. I vacuumed the inside of windows several times to remove flies and Asian ladybugs. 
  • Mary washed 3 loads of laundry.
  • She also cleaned out dead tomato plants, mowed grass in the far garden, and mulched half of the garlic rows with the cut grass. She watered the garlic, too.
    
  • I filled cracks and holes in the chicken coop with expandable foam and then painted outside walls of bare wood boards on the east and south walls of the coop with exterior latex white paint. It will all need at least 1 more coat of paint.
  • I also filled a crack where the living room floor meets the south wall with expandable foam. Cats had played with foam I put there a few years back and pushed some pieces through the hole into the crawlspace below the living room floor. It's sealed up, again.
    
  • Katie was asked by John Hendrix to give him a visit, so she went to his office and said hello (see photo that John texted me, below). Katie called me to tell me about it. She said his first comment was that she was taller than me. She told him that I've always said I grew some after high school and that she and I are about the same height.
  • Katie spent the morning searching Anchorage for groceries and supplies for the worksite in Nuiqsut. Since there are restrictions on purchasing amounts in Anchorage, Katie had to visit several stores to totally fill the list given to her by her supervisor. He let her drive his vehicle, so that's how she's driving around Anchorage.
    
  • Katie also found Christmas deals and purchased items for her apartment, such as a TV, rugs, and a microwave. She looked for a bed, but prices were high enough that she decided to order a bed, after talking to her landlord about how shipping to the apartment is handled.
  • We watched the 1989 movie Christmas Vacation.
  • Katie texted us that her third COVID test in 2 weeks was negative, so she's cleared to go north, which is scheduled for early Friday morning.
    

  

  John Hendrix & Katie Melvin
  

• Thursday, 12/10: A Final Warm Hurrah
  
  • This is the last warm day in awhile, according to weather forecasts, so Mary and I finished projects with that fact in mind.
  • Mary mowed more to try to get mulch for the garlic, but to no avail. Grass just isn't high enough to get much mulch. So, Mary moved old rotten mulch already in some far garden rows to finish covering planted garlic. She also raked pecan leaves to use as garlic mulch. It's all done, now. 
  • I put 2 more coats of white latex paint on what once were bare wooden boards of the chicken coop. Prior to adding the paint on wall boards, I trimmed expandable foam lumps and painted over all of that material. That job is all done, too.
  • While painting, I watched a V of snow geese fly from west to east overhead. Mary and I also heard, but didn't see, trumpeter swans. Migrating birds are telling us a white Christmas is on its way.
  • It was warm enough to have house windows open today and yesterday. I also did a thorough house vacuum to rid all windows of flies and Asian ladybugs.
  • We had smoked scrambled eggs that I cooked after dark with my new hat light. The meal was good.
    
    
• Friday, 12/11: Dark & Wet Day
  
  • We woke to rain and it rained all day and night.
  • Katie flew from Anchorage to Dead Horse. She texted just after 3 pm (noon, her time) that she arrived at Nuiqsut.
  • I'm trying straight baking soda in my brew bucket to remove the garlic odor.
  • We were done with evening chores by 4 pm, with it getting dark very early, due to a constant soaking rain.
  • We watched (4 episodes) of Downton Abbey that Katie gave Mary for Christmas. Even though everyone has seen this, we haven't. It's a soap opera, but fun to watch. 
  • The U.S. Supreme Court said Texas lacked standing to challenge votes in other states. Missouri, where I now live, was one of several states to join Texas in attempting to strip other states of their right to self govern. One hundred and 20 Republican U.S. House of Representatives, including the representative from our Northern Missouri district, joined Trump and Texas in this lawsuit. The Republican Party now stands for dictatorship. It will be a long day in hell before I vote Republican, again, and I'm ashamed I ever voted for that group of undemocratic-leaning buffoons in the past. They're detestable and they don't deserve to be near a governing body, let alone responsible for one.
    
    
• Saturday, 12/12: Saturday Game Night
  
  • For a 3rd consecutive Saturday, Mary and I played an evening game. Tonight it was the astronomy version of Monopoly. Mary won. She owned all 4 of the observatories, which are railroads in regular Monopoly. I was always paying her $200. I owned the only property to build on in this game, the cheapest on the board. With a hotel on each property, Mary regular paid me $450 or $250. It was amazing how many times she hit the taxes landing spots. We finally quit when all of the $500 and $100 bills were gone out of the bank. Mary's value at the end of the game was $9383. I was $2000 shy of her value. It was a weird, but fun game.
  • The day was quiet. Mist fell throughout the day and occasionally, a tiny snowflake or two drifted to the ground.
  • My garlic wine is calmer, occasionally shooting up a yeast residue asteroid. The pear wine is quietly sitting, waiting to be bottled at the end of the month. The brew bucket still smells garlicy. I read online that finely grated apple or potato works for ridding containers of garlic smell. I'll try it, next.
    

Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2020

Weather | 11/29, 35°, 45° | 11/30, 23°, 31° | 12/1, 15°, 40° | 12/2, 16°, 46° | 12/3, 23°, 45° | 2/4, 25°, 49° | 12/5, 27°, 49° |

• Sunday, 11/29: Bill Leaves
  
  • Mary made venison stew and biscuits, because Bill asked for it, earlier. It was really good. Bill had a second helping of biscuits with jelly on them, then groaned with a smile, from eating too much.
    
  • Bill left for his apartment around 2 pm.
  • Mary helped Katie start her cross stitch kit that Mary gave Katie for Christmas, so Katie will be able to continue with the project while she's babysitting the 5 electric generators during Christmas at Nuiqsut, AK, while her fellow workers are taking Christmas vacation.
  • I moved the 4-gallon buckets containing strawberry plants and the ten 4-gallon buckets of apple root stock trees into the machine shed for winter protection. I was worried that the apple tree roots went through screening covering holes in the bottom of the buckets, but I only had a couple small roots that ventured below the bucket bottoms.
  • I checked the garlic wine and the specific gravity was 1.032, so I racked it into a glass gallon jug and fit the jug with a sanitized airlock. The clean up of the brew bucket and the mesh bag will be extensive to eliminate the garlic smell. I'm guessing that chlorine might help.
    
  • Katie packed her stuff, since she has a 7 am plane departure, tomorrow.
    
    
• Monday, 11/30: A Day of Fiascos
  • We woke at 3:45 am, ate biscuits with jelly for breakfast, then I drove Katie to the Quincy (IL) airport. After Katie went through security, I waited in the car to watch the plane take off. Mary and I texted setting moon photos to each other, then Katie called, saying that the flight was canceled, due to severe crosswinds at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. She was able to change reservations for similar times tomorrow at no charge.
  • The State of Alaska COVID stipulation is a test must be taken within 72 hour prior to arriving in Alaska. Katie's COVID test administered on Saturday will be outdated with an Anchorage arrival tomorrow, so we checked for COVID test sites in Quincy, since we were in the Gem City. HyVee was on an online search. Katie asked the college-age representative behind the counter, who told her to fill out an online form. Katie tried, but got tomorrow's date, and asked why. "Oh, I'm sorry," said the young lady. "We don't do those tests on Monday." #@$*!!!
  • In the HyVee parking lot, Katie called Quincy's main hospital, Blessing, and was told that she could get the test. She was asked questions. When the health insurance provider question came up, Katie gave a number on her card, and the Blessing worker said something came up, but she didn't know if that was Katie's health insurance, so she'd just send Katie the bill. Katie called her boss in Nuiqsut, got the health insurance number from him. It's the same as on her card. Katie called the Blessing worker back, told her as much, and was told, "Okay, then this will go to your health insurance provider." THEN, WHY SEND A FULL BILL! *$%@#!!!
  • We shopped for a few groceries and ate lunch at Subway to eat up time. Then went to the address supplied by Blessing for her 11:10 am appointment. It's an old warehouse (see photos below) turned into a drive-through COVID test administration site, complete with kerosene heaters, laptops, and nurses wearing stuff that looks like they belong on the moon. Katie got her test. The nurse said Katie would need to call a number to get a sheet of paper stating she took the test (a requirement for getting off the airplane in Anchorage). She called the number and was told that paper was available where we got the test. *#$%!@ I got back in the vehicle line and after another wait, we got the required paper. The nurse who administered Katie's test said, "Oh, I thought you meant the actual test results. I could have given you this the first time you went through the line." #&*!@$
  • While we were in car lines, Mary collected up and cut some firewood back at home.
  • Katie and I drove to Lewistown, where I got a vehicle inspection for the Cadillac, then we drove home. After unloading, I drove to our county seat in Monticello, MO, and got new stickers for the Cadillac's plates, since they expire tomorrow.
  • After chores, we ate the last of Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. YUM!
    
    
• Tuesday, 12/1: Firewood Production Begins
  
  • We were up, again, at 3:45 am, to light a fire in the woodstove, eat a quick breakfast, and load the car. I drove Katie to the Quincy airport, and today, her plane took off at 7:30 to Chicago. She said O'Hare in Chicago was extremely quiet (see photo below). She took a flight to Minneapolis, then to Anchorage, getting in at 11:30 pm our time. While sitting in Minneapolis, she got her COVID test results from both Hannibal Clinic and Quincy's Blessing Hospital, both showing negative, which is good. 
  • Mary raked leaves to put in the compost bin and in blueberry plant containers. She then helped me.
  • I split firewood that I cut last spring. It sat next to the wood splitter all summer and fall. Several of the logs came from a standing, yet barkless, hickory tree, and were hard to split. There are now 3 stacks of firewood that need to be moved from the machine shed to the woodshed. The woodshed is completely empty of firewood as of today.
    
  • I ordered a pair of Canadian-made SoftMoc double-sole moose leather moccasins, paying for most of it with a gift card from Mom and points earned from our checking account. My current moccasins have quarter-sized holes in the soles.
  • Mary ordered 7 books she's always wanted, using the same money sources.
  • I checked my garlic wine. It's still fermenting and gassing off CO2 bubbles, but the airlock's burping is slowing down. The brew bucket, soaking in oxygen cleaner, still reeks of garlic.

  

  A quiet Chicago O'Hare airport.
  

• Wednesday, 12/2: HHS Friends Help Katie
  
  • I sent out multiple requests for Anchorage apartment information to former Homer High School classmates who are living in Anchorage, or who have friends living there, for assistance in helping Katie find a place to rent. John Hendrix, who was boarding a plane in Dallas to go to Las Vegas to visit his son, asked for Katie to call him. She did and got advice on good vs. bad Anchorage neighborhoods. He said someone from Homer who graduated a few years after us, was the GM or CEO a few years ago of the company that employs Katie. Alison Boyce sent messages to her Anchorage-residing friends asking for help with Katie finding an Anchorage residence. Glen Williams gave advice on where to find rentals. Hopefully, some of this information will help.
  • Katie texted that her boss in Nuiqsut has shingles, instead of a blood clot in his leg, as he originally suspected.
  • I moved the firewood I split yesterday from the machine shed to the woodshed, creating a knee-high stack in the woodshed.
  • Mary tried to rake up mulch along trails, but couldn't find enough. She decided to quit, since the garlic is sprouting and sending up leaves. Frost needs to stunt the garlic, so a mulch is not appropriate right now.
  • She also trimmed weeping willow limbs that were hanging to the ground.
  • The garlic wine is producing fewer CO2 bubbles. Three days ago, right after installing an airlock, it was burping every 2 seconds. Today, it burps once a minute. A half-inch of yeast dead bodies lines the bottom of the 1-gallon glass jug.
  • Holly, one of our cats, licked a plate and bowl with such fervor that she pushed the 2 items off the table. They hit the floor with a crash and broke. She is not on our happy list. Instead, she's on another list.
    
    
• Thursday, 12/3: Ordering Day
  • The pressurized power steering hose in the Cadillac is leaking. I read online that GM had a recall on 2006 DTS cars that improper crimping of these hoses caused leaks and sometimes fires. I ordered a new hose from RockAuto. It was $44 with shipping. I checked online at 2 auto stores in Quincy. The same part is $100...wow, what a difference!
  • We got the Fedco seed catalog in the mail. Mary made a "wanted seed" list from the catalog and her notes. We then ordered online. Some of the seeds we want won't be into Fedco until Jan. 1, but we ordered anyway. With possible shortages, we want to get a jump on seed ordering. We then spent several hours oogling over other plants and trees.
  • Mary made venison General Tso for our main meal.
    
  • Katie texted that her boss suggested she investigate the duplex that he recently moved out of in Anchorage as a possible place to rent. Last we heard, he was going to text her the landlord's phone number.
  • After checking my brew bucket, I put a solution of Clorox and water in it, since the bucket still has a powerful odor of garlic.
    
    
• Friday, 12/4: First Day of Anterless Deer Season
  
  • The start of the 3-day anterless deer season is today. We heard a shot from Rich, our neighbor to the SW, this morning.
  • I split more wood in the machine shed.
  • Mary made flour tortillas. She also figured out and set aside savings funds, then paid the bills. Mary washed sheets, and set out salsa ingredients to thaw.
  • We learned from Katie that she will be in Anchorage until Dec. 11. The North Slope Borough wouldn't accept her test from Blessing Hospital in Quincy, IL, because her test results didn't indicate if it was a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which is required. The letter accompanying Katie's test results stated it was a PCR test, but that wasn't good enough. Her employer was disturbed that Katie didn't stipulate that the PCR test needed to be stated on the test result, but backed off when Katie explained about the hassles she endured in simply getting a test here.
  • A Messenger text from Alison Boyce, one of my Homer (AK) High School classmates went to several of her Anchorage friends asking for rental help for Katie. The main message was that renting with cats is a no-go.
    
    
• Saturday, 12/5: Saturday Game Night
  
  • Mary made and canned 13 quarts of salsa. Here's what goes in her salsa...5 gallons of tomatoes, 60 tomatillos, 35-40 various types of hot peppers, 6 onions, 6 garlic bulbs, 1/2 cup of sugar, tablespoon of salt, and 1.5 cup of Real lemon juice. She cooks it down, skimming off tomatoe skins, then cans it. All ingredients except for salt, sugar and lemon juice comes from our garden. It's really yummy!
    
  • The RockAuto order of the Cadillac steering line is being shipped through FedEx. Usually, I can change the order to be held at Walgreens in Quincy, but RockAuto won't allow people to change the destination, so they tell me via emails that I exchanged with them. So, since FedEx usually doesn't find our home, I have to wait until RockAuto gets the package returned to them. I might have to quit using RockAuto.
  • I changed oil for the logsplitter engine. I also cleaned and re-oiled the air filter sponge and cleaned the spark plug with a wire brush. The 5 horsepower commercial Briggs engine on the logsplitter ran better, as a result. I split the rest of the wood in the machine shed.
  • After dark, we decided to continue the Saturday tradition of playing a game, something we used to do when we lived in Circle, (MT), and played the board game, Sorry! Since there were only 2 of us, we played all 4 colors. I was yellow and red, and Mary was green and blue. The object was to get all 8 of your pieces home. Mary won 2 games and I won 2 games. It was fun.
  • Katie texted that she was mapping out rentals that were available to go visit. She likes checking out places prior to talking to renters, so she can determine whether neighborhoods are good or bad without the presence of the owners. She also said she tested out the buffalo wool socks we gave her for Christmas on an outdoor hike, yesterday, and her feet were extremely warm.
    

Nov. 22-28, 2020

Weather | 11/22, 36°, 47° | 11/23, 24°, 39° | 11/24, 0.55" rain, 37°, 47° | 11/25, 0.18" rain, 43°, 45° | 11/26, 0.02" rain, 36°, 49° | 11/27, 35°, 48° | 11/28, 27°, 53° |

• Sunday, 11/22: Garlic Wine Started
  
  • Bill and I first started to make a jalapeno wine, but most of the peppers were either starting to rot, or had mold on them. When they were picked, I was building a new chimney and I didn't get to them soon enough. Mary suggested we make a garlic cooking wine, so she helped us peel 20 garlic bulbs and then chop them up in her food processor. I added a gallon of white grape juice, acid blend, yeast nutrient, a little water, and 3 cups sugar to put the the specific gravity at 1.110, which will give it a 14-15% alcohol content after the yeast is done. The brew bucket with garlic wine must in it sits 12 hours, then pectic enzyme is added, then after an additional 12 hours, yeast is included. The house smells like a garlic factory, especially in the pantry, where the brew bucket sits.
  • Bill made 3 excellent pizzas. We enjoyed some beer he brought with him. Last night, we had a glass, each, of coffee stout beer that he brewed, which was really good. 
  • We played Michigan Rummy between 7:30 and midnight. Mary blasted Bill and I in the game. It was fun. There were times when we laughed so hard, it hurt.
  • Mary reported that at times, there were several shots fired in properties all around us. This is the last weekend of regular deer hunting season. I'm happy to be done with hunting. Mary saw 53 Canada geese fly over while she was handling chickens in the evening, obviously disturbed by hunters walking by Wood Duck Pond. She saw them turn their heads, look at her with her hunter orange vest on, then veer to the north. It's easy to see that they know that hunter orange equals a human with a gun. We wear hunter orange throughout deer hunting gun season as a safety measure, when venturing outside.
    
    
• Monday, 11/23: First Snow
  
  • We got the first snow that stuck to the ground. It came down after sunset, at late dusk, when distant hills disappeared with oncoming snowfall.
  • I added pectic enzyme to the garlic wine in the morning, then yeast to it in the evening. Vampires won't visit our house. It smells strongly of garlic.
  • Katie texted me photos of the last sunrise and sunset of the year where she works at Nuiqsut, AK. She put them on Facebook, too, HERE.
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
  • We were going to cook pork loin on an outdoor fire, but predicted rain and stomachs full of waffles changed our minds. Instead, Mary fixed up pork loins with BBQ sauce, acorn squash, and small garden potatoes. We opened a bottle of grapefruit wine that I made earlier this year. It was more mellow. Mary and Bill like it. This wine is not my favorite.
  • Bill picked out a movie to watch. It was National Treasure.
    
    
• Tuesday, 11/24: Rainy Day
  
  • We didn't get a significant rain, but a steady rain fell slowly throughout the day.
  • Today is the last day of the regular deer hunting season. Of course, here in the land of shooting, there are more deer hunting seasons. The weekend after Thanksgiving Day is the second youth hunting season. Then, Dec. 4-5 is the anterless deer hunting season. The second archery deer hunting season is Nov. 25-Jan. 15. And, alternative deer hunting season, when you can throw a spear at a deer, or knock them over with a black powder gun, is Dec. 26-Jan. 5. There are multiple ways to annihilate deer in Missouri. We've got our meat, so we'll let them roam freely.
    
  • Mary baked 4 loaves of bread. She also cleaned a food-grade 5-gallon bucket. I added a Gamma screw-on lid, then Mary filled it with flour.
  • The garlic wine isn't fermenting, yet. Specific gravity went up 2 points to 1.112. A second look prior to bedtime revealed white ropes in the must, which could be mold (not good), or collections of bubbles from the start of fermentation (good). 
  • Mary made venison stroganof, a dish requested by Bill.
  • Katie almost missed her flight from Deadhorse to Anchorage, due to an airplane that was to fly from Barrow to Nuiqsut breaking down. She said they transferred to a different plane at Barrow in order to fly to Deadhorse. She made it to Anchorage, then to Minneapolis in the early morning hours of 11/25.
  • Bill and I were bums all day.
    
    
• Wednesday, 11/25: Remembering Dad
  
  • My father died 7 years ago on this day. Not one to take a long time to make decisions, my father never let moss grow under his feet. That's the reason why I was gifted with living in so many places as I grew up. I lived a few weeks in Florida after birth, then several spots in western Montana until age 6, then Anchorage and Ninilchik, AK, Carlisle near Fergus Falls, MN, Fargo & Mandan, ND, Greeley and Winter Park, CO, then Anchorage, Eagle River, and Homer, AK. A big advantage to moving so much is that no one is a stranger. It's easy for me to make friends. Also, one learns to read people quickly. Plus, long distances of travel never bother me. So, thank you, Robert A. Melvin. You helped me be what I am today.
    
  • Mary made 42 flour tortillas, chimichangas for our main meal, 2 pumpkin pies from a solid pumpkin that was first baked as halves in the oven, then turned into wonderful pies, and cranberry sauce from scratch (see photo below). She had a busy day in the kitchen.
    
  • I vacuumed flies and Asian ladybugs.
  • Katie texted in early morning hours that she left Anchorage, then landed in Minneapolis. After a layover in the Twin Cities, she flew to Chicago. Her flight got in early to O'Hare, so she was able to catch a midday flight to Quincy. She called from Chicago, letting us know about her early flight. It meant I had to hightail it to Quincy.
  • Once in Quincy, I bought veggies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal at Aldi and HyVee, then picked Katie up at the Quincy airport. As we went home, we drove by a farmer's semi with a grain trailer that jackknifed in the middle of the road in West Quincy, MO.
  • The dogs gave Katie a proper wiggy-waggy tail greeting (see photo below).
    
  • After eating, we watched the 2003 movie, Love Actually.
  • While checking my garlic wine before going to bed, I discovered that the yeast finally kicked in and started fermentation.

The first stage of making cranberry sauce.

Plato and Katie saying hello.

• Thursday, 11/26: Thanksgiving Day
  
  • Everyone was a bum, today, except Mary. She runs with a checklist every Thanksgiving Day, to remind her of the various things that need to be done. The turkey went in at 11 am, and was done by 2 pm. We ate by 2:30. It was amazing!
  • Bill washed 2 loads of clothes. The clothesline was filled and some had to come in and be dried hanging from the line in the living room.
  • I checked the garlic wine. The specific gravity moved just a little bit...from 1.112 to 1.108, so fermentation is starting to eat up sugars.
  • After Mary cleaned all of the meat off the turkey, we took the carcass out to where I left deer carcasses, and dumped the turkey carcass. The only thing left of the 2 deer were part of hides and a couple feet. Coyotes or other critters really cleaned everything up. We're sure they enjoyed the Thanksgiving turkey, too.
  • Katie picked out a game to play. It's called Constellation. We played twice. I won the first game and Katie won the second one. 
  • Katie picked out 2 movies to watch. They were The Man Who Invented Christmas and The Polar Express. 
  • Clouds were closing off the moon and stars when Mary and I walked the dogs for the final time at midnight, prior to going to bed.
    
    
• Friday, 11/27: Day After Thanksgiving (I refuse to name a day black!)
  
  • We enjoyed the All American duty of eating turkey leftovers.
  • We saw a golden eagle fly over our property.
  • Katie wrapped Christmas presents.
  • I checked the garlic wine. The fermentation is robust and the specific gravity is 1.093. 
  • Bill and I racked the pear wine into the 5-gallon big mouth carboy, cleaned the 6.5-gallon carboy we moved the wine from, and then put the wine back into that carboy. We carefully removed leftover wine from atop the yeast residue and tasted it. This tasted like aged pear wine. With an alcohol content between 10-11%, this is much better tasting wine than the pear wine I made last year. The pear taste comes out strongly, which is great. Bill and I cleaned up the winemaking stuff, then washed all of the dishes.
  • Mary, Katie, Bill, and I put up the Christmas tree and decorated it while listening to Christmas music.
  • After trimming the tree, we divided up a bottle of blackberry wine. It's only a month since I bottled it, yet it tasted like a fine finished wine, full of body and very good.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/28: Katie's Christmas
  • I drove Katie to the Hannibal (MO) Clinic. You park in their parking lot in front of a sign with a number (we were number 17), call the phone number listed on a post, give them your personal information, then a nurse comes outside and administers the COVID test. It's a requirement 72 hours prior to arriving by air into Alaska. It was Katie's 4th COVID test. This nurse did the longest nose swab job Katie has ever experienced. Usually, the administrator of COVID tests email results, but not here. Instead, Katie has to develop a patient portal to get results. It took an hour at the Hannibal Clinic parking lot to get through their process.
  • When Katie left Nuiqsut, AK, she was wearing her winter work clothes. Putting them in her suitcase made it overweight, so the clothes went into a big plastic garbage sack. We went to JCPenney in Hannibal for Katie to buy a suitcase. All Penneys had was high-priced junk, so she bought a 17-gallon plastic tote for $10 at Lowe's.
  • While Katie and I were gone, Mary figured out what garden seeds we need to order. We figure seeds ought to be ordered early, since most seed sellers were swamped with extra sales this year and a repeat is imminent.
    
  • When we got home, we built an outdoor fire and had a wienie roast. Mary's relish and piccalilli were very popular with Bill and Katie.
  • The specific gravity of the garlic wine is 1.060, with strong fermentation occurring.
    
  • We opened Christmas gifts for Katie after dark. Katie's gifts to all of us were very thoughtful. She gave Mary several movie bluray disks. Bill got an incredible pillow. I got several tools, including a Milwaukee LED headlamp, plus a 5-gallon glass carboy.
  • We divided a bottle of dandelion wine that was bottled on July 4th. It has too high of an alcohol content...17.7%, so it's too strong. But the floral aftertaste is quite good. We all agreed it's a wine to make, again.
    
  • We called mom after opening gifts. Bill and Katie talked with her for several minutes. Mom was exposed to COVID from her friend, Martha, but after 10 days of staying home, Mom has no symptoms. Mom said a large man camp for the oil pipeline out of Canada is being built between of Circle and Brockway, MT.
  • We watched the 2020 movie, Emma, one of the movies that Katie gave Mary.
    

Nov. 15-21, 2020

Weather | 11/15, 0.19" rain, 38°, 72° | 11/16, 29°, 58° | 11/17, 26°, 43° | 11/18, 31°, 61° | 11/19, 50°, 71° | 11/20, 47°, 57° | 11/21, 0.34" rain, 37°, 45° |

• Sunday, 11/15: Mom's 86th Birthday
  
  • I woke up at 4:30 am with a noise that at first I thought was thunder. It was a very strong west wind, so I moved the Cadillac to the driveway, then let the dogs out while it was raining. Wind I can take when hunting, but a strong wind with rain, forget it. We were wide awake, so we got up.
  • After morning chores and breakfast, I went to the Bobcat Deer Blind. On the way, I took photos of the trail to this blind, and then at the blind, I took a 360-degree video of the view from this spot in the north woods (see below). In the video, I start filming to the south, span west, then north, which is where the big oak tree is that I sit behind, then east, and finally back to the south, again. This blind is relatively bare, now. When I first made it, I wove grass and cedar branches into the fencing. I've found if you're absolutely still, deer usually don't see you, so I quit putting dead vegetation in the fencing at this blind. I've shot many deer at this location. When I first arrived at the blind today, 4 deer ran off to the west.  I saw a large coyote on the hill to the west.
  • I went back home around 11 am and we ate venison sandwiches.
  • I returned to the blind after dinner. At one point, I saw the feet of an animal, but not the body, running down the hill NE of me into the creek bed. By the way it ran, I think it was another coyote. Later, 2 deer ran down that same hill. One ran east, below me, and stopped for a second. I had him scoped in, but he had about a 6-inch spike for horns. It needs to be 3 inches or less, so I let him go. The second deer ran up the hill toward me. I took a left-handed shot and got it in the heart. It dropped instantly...no suffering. It's a small doe, which is good eating. I got Mary. We drove the tractor pulling a wagon down the trail to where I could turn around. Mary and I field dressed the deer, took it back home, cleaned out the body cavity with water from a garden hose, and hung it in the machine shed. Tonight's temperature is going down to 30°, so we're going to let it hang for the night, and butcher it first thing in the morning.
  • I talked to Mom. Her boss at the Circle (MT) Senior Center, Patty, took her out to a noontime dinner for her birthday. She's doing well.

1. Start of West Trail, with clothesline post right.

2. A few feet later, Frog Pond left, West Field ahead.

3. Next, trail goes through 8-year old oaks.

4. Next, trail goes halfway down west field.

5. Right turn, then cross field, & enter north woods.

6. Halfway down Bobcat Trail, once entered woods.

7. Bobcat Stand: cow panels, posts, & a bucket to sit on.

• Monday, 11/16: Our Deer Sanctuary
  
  • I pulled the curtains back after waking up and there were 3 deer in the far garden munching on frozen tomatoes and plants. We debated about me taking a shot out the bedroom window, but several head-height persimmon trees were between me and the deer, making it a poor shot. I let them go. They jumped the electric fence around the garden easily. After walking dogs, we spotted a 9-point buck looking at us from Frog Pond. Through binoculars, I watched him limp off to the west, probably wounded by a hunter's poor aim. So far, I've spent 4 bullets to sight in my rifle and one bullet to harvest one deer as humanely as possible. Hunting involves thinking ahead about your shot and aiming wisely, not spraying bullets indiscriminately from your AK-15, a poor hunting rifle in the first place. I hear them going off in neighboring properties...a first shot...a couple seconds...a second shot...then another shot...all sounding different as a hunter swings the rifle to follow a running deer and misses on each shot. I wish there was a button I could push that remotely slapped each of these poor hunters in the face with a prickly ash branch.
  • After breakfast this morning, I sharpened knives and skinned the deer hanging in the machine shed. We took the hind quarters off and deboned everything. This gave us 22 packages of meat. Then we got shoulder meat, loin, and tenderloin cuts from the carcass. Altogether, we made up 31 packages of meat from this deer. She had a long body, and such deer yield more meat.
  • I hunted the SE deer blind starting at 3 pm. I took photos of the trail to this hunting location (see below). When I turned off the East Trail to the trail to the SE Blind, a barred owl approached overhead followed by several crows that were harassing it. The owl saw me and landed in a tree directly above me. The crows saw me, too, scattered, and flew away. The smart owl obviously used my presence to persuade the yelling crows to leave. 
  • Even though I never saw them, I heard several deer run north, opposite from some cedar trees, as I approached this blind. A large midge insect hatch was out this afternoon, with hundreds of them dancing in the sunlight. About 20 minutes after sunset, I heard, but couldn't see, a deer stomping around north of me. It was dusk and dark in the woods. I saw a form for a little bit, but couldn't tell if it was a buck or a doe. A check of the time indicated it was 5:19, the end of legal hunting for the day. I unloaded bullets out of my rifle, grabbed my things, dropped something, and with those sounds, the deer bounded off to the north. A crescent moon was setting to the west as I walked up the hill to home.
  • Mary did all of the evening chores by herself as yours truly sat on his duff in the woods.
  • Katie enjoyed a blizzard today in Nuiqsut, Alaska, with sustained 30 mph winds.
  • Mom was at the Circle (MT) Senior Center, where she works part-time. She and her boss, Patti, baked 10 pumpkin pies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal served by the senior center.

1. East Trail start, garden fence left, compost bins right.

2. Later down the hill, Dry Pond right.

3. Next, trail switchbacks down steep section.

4. After long walk east, trail turns north.

5. Trail turns back east, with woods on right.

6. Trail drops with left higher than right.

7. Leave East Trail, follow ditch carved in forest floor.

8. After a few steps, jump the ditch, here.

9. Trail turns south a short jaunt through woods.

10. Turn east, jump deep ditch.

11. Trail turns NE, after leaving woods.

12. SE Deer Blind. Yes, another bucket.

• Tuesday, 11/17: "Your Deer Hunting is Over!"
  
  • I didn't go hunting in the morning, because I wanted a rest from it.
  • We had a mid-day chicken dinner with coleslaw and potatoes.
  • In the afternoon, I started to go hunting at the Wood Duck Deer Stand, but the SE breeze was blowing my scent over the dry creek bed where deer usually show up, so I moved to the Cherry Deer Stand, where a SE breeze is perfect. I took photos walking to both these hunting locations, but I'll put them on here some other day.
  • I was there all afternoon. I had a tufted titmouse land on a branch above me. It had an acorn nut in its mouth. Chickadees would land on seeded-out goldenrod. It bent almost to the ground as they tore seeds out and ate them. The sun set to the west at 4:43. It was after 5 when I watched a deer approach from the west. It stopped to eat grass from my trail. I tried to rest the rifle against a dead cherry branch, but it made a loud sound from raised bark on it. The noise spooked the deer, and it started running back to the west. It then turned north, giving me a full profile. I took a left-handed shot. It bounded off to the west. After 3 hops, I didn't see it, so I used a tall oak tree on the west treeline to mark where I last saw it from the deer stand, got down and tried to find it. I couldn't find it, so I texted Mary that my shot missed. When I got back to the tree stand to get my stuff to go home, I realized that I walked too far to the SW, so I went back and looked again and found the deer (see photo below). It is a very large doe.
  • I walked back home and Mary, after seeing the photo, said, "Your deer hunting is over!" We both laughed. It's over for this year, because we have plenty of meat with this deer for another year. I changed to my dirty field dressing clothes, fueled the tractor, then we drove back north. Earlier, I put my seat cushion in a high branch of an elm tree to mark where the doe was laying, but we couldn't find it in the dark, mainly because I kept telling Mary, who was walking ahead of me as I drove the tractor, that she was veering too far west. She wasn't. When I retraced my way from the deer stand, I discovered the deer was further west. I won't know until I skin it, but I think I hit its lungs and it dropped after running out of oxygen. We field dressed it, took it home, hosed down the cavity, then hung it from a rafter in the machine shed. We think it weighs 150-175 pounds without the guts. She's a big mama. The predicted low is 32° and it was 35° when we hung up the deer...ideal meat cooling temperatures. We'll butcher it tomorrow morning. Two bullets and two deer taken, although, at first this evening, I thought I was like the play, Alexander Hamilton, and I missed my shot. I was wrong, thank goodness. We're in the venison, now.
  • While I got a sore butt from sitting all afternoon on a deer stand, Mary cleaned the refrigerator's inside, other appliances, and the silverware. She also did all of the chores.
  • Mom texted that they served 67 Thanksgiving meals at the Circle Senior Center. Since it was a curbside delivery, Mom was very busy.

The 2nd & final doe of this hunting season.

• Wednesday, 11/18: Done With Meat Season - Each fall, we first go through chicken butchering, then deer butchering. It's not a fun chore, but it gives us inexpensive meat, especially with venison, since the only money spent is for ammunition, some plastic wrap, Ziploc freezer bags, and our time. On the final butchering day, which was today this year, we give out a sigh of relief, and a thought of thanks that the meat processing job is done for the year. Most people don't butcher their own meat. Even most local hunters take their deer to a butcher shop, who does the work for them. Butchering your own meat gives you more respect for all that is involved with providing this food staple. For us, I don't think we gobble up as much meat, since we possess a higher regard for the amount of work involved and for the gift of the animal, itself.
  
  • I sharpened knives, then skinned the doe hanging in the machine shed this morning. The deer meat was nice and cool. This big doe was extremely fatty...about an inch of fat on her back. 
  • While I skinned, Mary washed a load of laundry.
  • I singed any loose hair left on the body with a propane torch turned down low. Mary laid down 3 large plastic garbage bags on the kitchen table and taped them in place. We cut the big hind quarters off and hauled it into the house. I cut the hind quarters in half with a meat saw. Mary carved excess fat and silver skin off each haunch. I boned out sections of meat with a filet knife. Mary took each meat piece, cleaned off fat, sinew, and silver skin, then cut them into approximate meal sizes. Mary washed each piece, covered it in plastic wrap, then I put 3 or 4 of these pieces into a Ziploc bag, which is labeled, per the Missouri Conservation Dept., with my name, address, date deer was harvested, and the hunting verification number I get via my phone when I telecheck the deer in after shooting it. Today, we processed 37 packages of meat. With 31 from the first deer and 12 left over from last year, we have 80 venison meals in the freezer, which is plenty. Besides, this deer was large, so our meal sizing was likewise larger.
  • While I disposed of the carcass, skin, fat and gristle waste, Mary washed dishes and knives, and did the chores. I also put away lights and extension cords used for butchering that were strung up in the machine shed.
  • Katie texted that sunrise at Nuiqsut, Alaska is now at 11:37 am. She said what really surprises her is how incredibly long dusk lasts, which is common throughout Alaska.
    
    
• Thursday, 11/19: Fix-it Day
  
  • I fixed things today. First, I fixed it so Mary didn't have to cook breakfast...we had Waffle Friday on Thursday and I made waffles.
  • Mary washed jeans and towels, while I washed my hat.
  • I put a recyclable cloth bag filter in the place of a paper filter in the Shop Vac. It seemed to run better while I cleaned up flies and Asian ladybugs in our bedroom windows. It failed to start after I moved it to another room. It might have a faulty switch.
  • We haven't had a coffeemaker since the third night of chicken butchering, when Mary, who was obviously really tired, forgot to put the carafe into place, the basket that holds the filter and coffee grounds flooded, and filled the water reservoir with grounds, blocking coffee from going into the carafe on later tries at making coffee. Today, I tried to remove the bottom plate, but it's got weird 3-slotted Phillips head screws, known as tri-wing screws, and I don't have a tool for that screw type. I filled the coffeemaker several times with water and just dumped the water out with fewer and fewer grounds coming out each time. Then, I ran half vinegar and half water through the machine, as if I was making coffee, and then ran 2 more batches of plain water through the machine to clear out the vinegar. We're back in coffee tomorrow morning!
  • A couple days ago as I started a fire in the woodstove, a cat started scratching on a couch, so I grabbed the only broom we have that doesn't look like a scraggly Fu Manchu beard, swung it down hard on the floor to get the cat's attention, and broke the handle off the broom. Today I jammed a screwdriver in and removed the cheap plastic fitting that broke in half, found a Fu Manchu bearded broom in the machine shed, removed its handle and screwed it into our good broom head. Since that old broom was once our chicken coop broom, I cleaned the handle with ammonia cleaner.
  • Mary made a shopping list, since we're going to Quincy, tomorrow. 
  • She also swept and mopped the main level floors of the house.
  • Mary took a photo of a walking stick insect on our screen door (see photo, below).

  

  A walking stick (head is on the top).

• Friday, 11/20: Shopping Day
  
  • We shopped in Quincy, faithfully wearing masks and wiping our hands with alcohol-soaked paper towels (the cheaper hand sanitizing method) after each trip into a store. The Quincy Herald-Whig's top headline today is how their county, Adams County, reached 4,000 COVID cases. Yet, we still saw people in stores without masks. Shopping highlights...we got 3 turkeys, 1 for Thanksgiving and 2 for other times in the upcoming year; we found a Porter Cable vacuum, since our current Shop Vac stops after a few minutes of use; I found a small tool kit with several bits, including one that fits the weird tri-wing screw on the coffeemaker; we bought enough food for the return of "The Great Mastication Team," of Bill and Katie.
  • After Reuben sandwiches this evening, Mary and I wrapped all of the Christmas presents we have, so we don't have to do it later when kids are visiting.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/21: Bill Arrives
  
  • I tried out our new canister vacuum. It works great.
  • Mary did a bunch of housecleaning. 
  • Bill arrived around 12:30. Our dogs yipped and wiggled all over him. 
  • Mary did 2 loads of laundry. 
  • After chores, we had nachos and watched 2 movies, Sense and Sensibility and 2015 James Bond film, Spectre.