January 26-February 1, 2020

Weather | 1/26, 14°, 29° | 1/27, 25°, 33° | 1/28, 25°, 31° | 1/29, 19°, 29° | 1/30, 24°, 38° | 1/31, 0.04" rain, 25°, 39° | 2/1, 30°, 39° |

• Sunday, 1/26: Started with fog outside. Was a gray day, so we stayed inside. Using this blog, I updated my handwritten wine making journal. When I bottled the pear wine, it was 2.5 months old. Mom texted that she visited Boulder City, Lake Meade and Hoover Dam today while visiting with Pam. We watched 2 movies, Bridget Jones Baby, and Notting Hill.
• Monday, 1/27: Mary figured our February meal menu and worked up a shopping list for tomorrow. She also bagged up donations that we'll drop off at the Salvation Army in Quincy. I took the chainsaw apart. Found pieces of the sprocket inside that area. Dismantled parts and worked up a list of chainsaw parts that I want to buy. We plugged in the old landline phone and after an hour of charging, I removed saved phone numbers from it, then packaged it up for donation. Packed up 7 more computer cords to drop off for reycling at Staples, tomorrow. Mom flew into Billings today.
• Tuesday, 1/28: Had a little bit of fog overnight and into the morning. We shopped in Quincy. Didn't get some items that were on my chainsaw list, due to high prices vs. the parts' existing quality. For instance, an air filter costs $45, whereas the guy said I can wash it with Dawn and water forever...good idea...I'll just wash it. A brake drum assembly was $28, plus $12 shipping, and the present one is good enough. Oil filter was good, too. Did get a new grinding wheel for the chainsaw sharpener. Farm & Home had 10% off chains and bars, which I got. All of the chainsaw parts equaled $189. But, this will last 2-3 years and, with the addition of gas, oil, and our own time, it's our heating cost. Got home after dark, did chores, unloaded, made up nachos and watched The Kid Who Would be King movie. Mom made it home to Circle MT during the late afternoon.
• Wednesday, 1/29: Again, fog overnight, which put white frost on all of the tree branches. Snow started falling around 11 am. It ended around 3 pm. I bought a big bag of pink Texas grapefruit yesterday that I plan to make into wine. Investigated grapefruit wine recipes online and corresponding yeast varieties, then ordered yeast, a pound each of acid blend, yeast nutrient, and wine tannin, 4 one-gallon glass jugs, a 1.4-gallon wide-mouth carboy (the jugs and carboy for making small 1-gallon wine batches), 4 stoppers, and another nylon straining bag from Midwest Supplies, in the Twin Cities. These are early birthday gifts for me, along with 3 Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin novels ordered from Thrift Books. Mary washed towels and dried them over the woodstove, and swept. We had an immature red-tailed hawk sitting in trees around the house at midday. Chickens were inside, so no problem with the hawk. The garbage truck came after a 2-week absence...took 2 trips with the plastic toboggan to move the garbage cans from the end of the lane, back to the machine shed. A lone coyote was howling to the east at dusk, less than yesterday, when a pack howled just down the hill from the house. They're really noisy canines! 
• Thursday, 1/30: Another gray day...we've had several in a row. The last time we saw the sun was on the 16th, a partly cloudy day. Mary washed some clothes that dried inside and did some cross-stitching. Saw another red-tailed hawk surveying our yard this morning. We had super omelets for our main meal...with gobs of veggies in them. I overhauled the chainsaw. Tore it apart as far as I dared go. Cleaned a lot of oil and fine sawdust. Spark plug gap on old plug was quite large. Dawn and hot water cleans air filter very well. Comparing old to new sprocket, the old one was extremely worn. The same with the teeth between new and old chains. Had a substantial amount of oil coming out from inside oiling mechanism. I'm hoping it's just due to using lighter viscosity "below freezing" chain oil recently and not because I have a leak inside the saw. It took several hours to clean, sometimes resorting to Q-tips. Katie said she got a 100% on a calculus test. She said her professor makes the material easy to learn.
• Friday, 1/31: Mary worked on about a third of a mound of branches in the machine shed and made them into kindling. It was another gray day, but this time with rain when Mary was doing kindling. I worked on the taxes and e-filed them. Our refund is more than we expected, which is nice. All were accepted except for the Illinois state tax. They're such bastards about things, but this is the last time I have to worry about it, since I'm now not working in Quincy, IL. I have to get back in and redo the electronic signature for Mary on the Illinois tax form. Updated checkbook. Researched purchasing a new power strip for the microwave and on pole barn buildings. John Hendrix left a voice mail and Dave Parmeter (both former Homer Alaska High classmates) left a Facebook message asking about this summer's reunion. Seems like everyone is ape about the reunion but me.
• Saturday, 2/1: A lot of snow melting today to where most of the ground is starting to be bare. We saw sun for the first time in many days in the afternoon. Mary did a load of laundry, made 38 flour tortillas, and made taco salad for our main meal. I assessed vitamins and minerals that I take vs. what I need. Mom said she got a humidifier for her place, since it's so dry in her house. She's ordering garden seeds. There's no snow on the ground and in the 50s in Circle, MT. One of the amaryllis plants that I got for Christmas is starting to show color in it's tallest bud (see below). That bulb has 2 more buds and the other bulb is showing 2 buds. It's going to get colorful in the sunroom, soon. We watched 3 episodes of Neal deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos. When we walked the dogs, we saw a rainbow, or more like a moon dog, next to the moon.

The first amaryllis bud.

January 19-25, 2020

Weather | 1/19, -1°, 13° | 1/20, 7°, 17° | 1/21, 6°, 30° | 1/22, 1" snow, 0.14" moisture, 23°, 35° | 1/23, 3" snow or 0.44" moisture, 29°, 36° | 1/24, 29°, 33° | 1/25, 27°, 35° |

• Sunday, 1/19: Mary baked 4 loaves of bread. She also figured out what we wanted to plant and then the seeds we need for our gardens. She made a turkey pot pie for our main meal. I researched how to do grafting, budding, and cuttings on trees, especially apple trees. My main source is a book Mary bought 10 years ago called Plant Propagation, a British book. It's excellent. I then picked rootstock, from Fedco in Maine, where I can get 10 semi-dwarf apple rootstocks for $30. I can take one of those and grow more rootstock. This one can be used for grafting on both apple and crabapple trees. We have an old McIntosh apple tree, with a hollow trunk, that I want to graft buds or scions onto new rootstocks and create several new trees, so we can remove the old tree. It will take a few years. Mom said they visited Flagstaff, AZ, where they saw an ancient crater and a petrified forest (see photos below). Overnighted in Holbrook and drove back home to Buckeye, today. She said Sedona was a tourist trap, where they didn't stop. Bill texted that he was making another batch of beer and bought a bucket to start making wine, sometime. We listened to the AFC and NFC championship football games...Chiefs 35, Titans 24; and 49ers 37, Packers 20. Turned off the radio at the start of the 4th quarter of the 49ers/Packers game, because we were sick and tired of the 3-4 ads that they aired over and over. Thought it was pretty funny when they announced the Pepto Bismol "Most Upsetting Play of the Game.”

Mom at the crater formed 50,000 years ago that is 1 mile wide and 700 feet deep.

Petrified forest in Arizona.

• Monday, 1/20: Snow was falling when we woke, so we called the vet and told them we'd try to make it in on Friday (things might be thawed by then). Freshly fallen snow on ice makes it really slippery outside. Mary created a 2020 garden calendar to keep track of monthly garden chores. I ordered seeds, apple tree rootstocks, and 50 strawberry plants. I also ordered tea from Stash Tea. Looked at vitamins, but didn't order anything. Looked for pickups online. Several schools closed in the area. Don't even see the neighbor's 4x4 pickups moving. You'd need chains on all 4 tires to travel on this stuff. It's nice and warm in the living room, where the woodstove heat exists (see below).

Mocha on Mary, taken 1/21/20.

• Tuesday, 1/21: I read and took notes in a book entitled Prescription Alternatives. Mom texted that she visited with Pete Robison, her cousin that she hasn't seen for 63 years, when he was 19 years old (see below). She said Pete reminded her of her father, Jack Robison. They had a good visit. Bill said his newest beer brewing is coming right along (see below). We had a little bit of thawing outside, but there's still a lot of slippery ice. Saw an immature bald eagle at noon and Vs of geese flying about.

Cousins Pete Robison and Ruth Melvin.

Bill's latest batch of beer.

• Wednesday, 1/22: Mary made blackberry crunch for a dessert. She made barbecued pork loin, corn on the cob, and sweet potatoes for our main meal. She also worked on cross-stitch and a puzzle Katie gave her for Christmas. I researched different vitamins and minerals online and ordered some from Swanson Vitamins in Fargo, ND. A bit of mist, followed by sticky wet snow, that was coming down at about 30°, makes traction much easier outside.
• Thursday, 1/23: Mary made 32 flour tortillas, and then chimichangas for our main meal. I tore into the ground floor west room closet, where I have empty wine bottle stored. Discovered dead, dried up baby mice on the floor in there...knew I needed to get that cleaned up. Removed items, cleaning as they came out. Didn't finish the job. Bill called. He has a camshaft position sensor warning on his car. Since he has a warranty, he's thinking that should cover this issue. We watched the 2017 movie, Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. It's exceptionally good. Saw a bobcat track in the snow. Mom flew to Las Vegas and will spend a few days with Pam, her niece.
• Friday, 1/24: Woke with about 3" of freshly fallen snow on the ground. Saw tracks where a coyote checked out rabbit trails north of the Machine Shed, then went off into the west field. I cleaned snow off the Cadillac, started it, and drove to the pavement and back, just to see if I could make it...everything was fine on State Highway J, even though MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) showed covered roads. We took Mocha to the vet...got her stitches removed and she got another dewormer dose, plus a first batch of shots. She weighed 3.38 pounds, up from 1.8 pounds the last visit. Drs. Carson and Briscoe were happy with her progress. Stopped at Aldi in Hannibal and bought a handful of items. 
• Saturday, 1/25: We saw a Cooper's Hawk flying near the chicken coop in the morning hours. Chickens were inside the coop, so no harm there. Mary cleaned up books on the living room shelves. She also pulled 81 books out of our book collection to be donated. I finished cleaning the west room closet. I have 91 750-ml sized empty wine bottles. I have 48 four-inch square plastic containers with big lids on them that formerly held Sam's Club corn starch or baking powder that I'll use to store bolts, nuts, nails, and various hardware. I packaged them up into large plastic garbage bags and draped plastic bags over the wine bottles. Used a plastic tote to store all of my other wine making stuff. Added my 2 glass 6-gallon and 5-gallon carboys and the 6.5-gallon brew bucket to the closet. Now I have some order to my wine making material and it's in one location. Mom texted about her visit with Pam in Las Vegas.

January 12-18, 2020

Weather | 1/12, 20°, 27° | 1/13, 27°, 35° | 1/14, 37°, 49° | 1/15, 39°, 42° | 1/16, 6°, 27° | 1/17, skiff of snow, 1/4" ice, or 0.80" moisture, 15°, 31° | 1/18, 9°, 31° |

• Sunday, 1/12: Mocha is playing like a real kitten should...first time, ever. She's eating with gusto. We've turned the corner to recovery. Listened to a wild NFL Kansas City/Houston game where it was 24-0, Texans, and then the Chiefs scored 41 unanswered points. Final score, 51-31, Chiefs...a lot of defense! Then, listened to the Packers beat the Seahawks 28-23...boo, hiss...wanted Seattle to win. Guess we'll root for Chiefs, since they are in the State of Missouri. I looked to the online site where I got my W-2 forms the past 2 years and found the 2019 W-2 form for me from Petco. Now, I just need to find the form for Mid-Rivers' Pension, and I'm ready to do taxes. I did more online research on pole buildings. Mary rolled the rest of her yarn and read. Kind of a duddy Sunday as far as activity.
• Monday, 1/13: I removed two 10-year old fire alarms, plus their brackets, and installed 2 new ones. Also, assessed other old alarms and batteries for the old alarms. We need to buy 3 more to replace existing 10-year old fire alarms. Mary made laundry soap from Fels Naptha bars. She also made 40 tortillas in 1 hour...a new record. Katie started college classes in Gulfport.
• Tuesday, 1/14: Found what I thought was a good pickup for sale online near Ewing (only a few miles away). What was listed as in very good condition was a junker...tailgate held on with a rachet strap, a broken rear shock absorber hanging down, completely bald tires, a grinding sound when driven, air gushing through the heater core, a low coolant light on in the dashboard, a crack from top to bottom in the windshield, rusted body...we respectively told the woman that we wouldn't buy it. At least we didn't have to drive far to witness what she lied about online. I burned trash in the afternoon, which took 2.5 hours...a lot of boxes, Christmas wrapping, and old oily rags. The last time we burned was in April, so it was quite a stack of stuff. After sunset, several flocks of snow geese flew east to west. They are way early...usually we see them in February/March. Mom flew to Phoenix to visit friends. In the evening, I looked online and in books for various types of wine to make. Some that I'm considering include grapefruit, watermelon, parsnip, pumpkin, blackberry, elderberry, cherry, autumn olive, white clover, strawberry, dandelion, garlic, rhubarb, apple, apricot, and snow pea pod wine.
• Wednesday, 1/15: Mary did laundry, swept, and dusted. A cloudy day meant most of the drying took place inside, over the wood stove. Clothes drying lasted until midnight. Emailed Lisa at Mid-Rivers to find out that I'll be getting a 1099 tax form related to my pension, which will be mailed the last week in January. I removed packing tape that blew loose covering the NE chicken coop window and re-applied it, this time using a heat gun to make the stickum work better...worked like a charm. Did the same trick on the other north and 2 south windows...3 more windows to do. Looked up soils info through USDA's online soils maps and downloaded a pdf file of a soils map of our property. We have 4 basic soils, all heavily laden in clay...no surprise there. What is surprising is a bulk of our soil is classified as a silt loam, especially where the land is covered with timber. Where our Bartlett Pear tree is located is in this soil, which explains why it does so well. All of our soil is highly acidic, which we know, because wood ash, which is basic, helps the garden thrive. With this info, I have a better understanding of soil types and characteristics for building.
• Thursday, 1/16: I sharpened 1 of my chainsaw chains and we cut down 2 dead cherry trees in the SW woods, sawed them up, split them and stacked them in the woodshed. Discovered a healthy piece missing out of the sprocket of my chainsaw. My chain was super dull, even after sharpening it. Took an entire tank of gas to cut 2 trees that were 5" at their bases, which is pathetic, even though these 2 trees were thoroughly cured and very hard. It's time for some parts refurbishing on the chainsaw. Had cod & sweet potatoes.
• Friday, 1/17: About 8 am, it started snowing. Then, it started raining at 24° and rained very hard, while freezing. All tree branches became waving castanets in the wind. By the dog's nighttime walk, the lawn was covered with sheer ice...even grass blades sticking up through the ice were covered with ice. Churchill, who is petrified of walking on ice, wouldn't walk up the steps into the house. It took 2 of us to get him up the steps and because he walks so stiff-legged on ice, he fell at the top, but we got him back on his feet, immediately. We watched The Heat movie and 2 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Mom sent a photo of herself next to a Joshua Tree in Arizona (see below).

Mom with a Joshua Tree.

• Saturday, 1/18: The temperature today, started roughly at freezing, so we took shovels to the ice on the porch and removed it. We're all walking gingerly on the ice outside. Temperatures are dropping as the day progresses, while a strong wind shatters ice out of all tree branches. I'm so, so glad I don't have to drive to work! Mom and her friends went on a trip to Sedona, AZ. She texted another cactus photo, this time with her in front of a Saguaro Cactus (see below). I looked for pickups online throughout the day. Mary started crocheting her afghan. By nighttime, ice on the ground was thoroughly frozen and when you step on it, cracks echo off to the left and right. We walk on eggs outside, because it's so slippery. Had the 2nd half of the world's best apple pie that Mary made yesterday, along with tea, while watching 3 episodes of Cosmos, by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a DVD set that Bill gave to Mary at Christmas. It was made in 2014 and it's very good. When we went to bed after midnight, the NW wind was howling, and the temperature was 9°.

Mom with a Saguaro Cactus.

January 5-11, 2020

Weather | 1/5, 29°, 52° | 1/6, 20°, 40° | 1/7, 26°, 42° | 1/8, 17°, 36° | 1/9, 45°, 59° | 1/10, 1.02" rain, 27°, 43° | 1/11, 1/2" snow or 0.16" moisture, 20°, 23° |

• Sunday, 1/5: Katie texted several times prior, during, and after the Vikings/Saints Wildcard NFL playoff game in New Orleans, where she was one of several military people to hold a big flag during pregame ceremonies (see photo below). She watched the game in nosebleed seats with other Vikings fans. We listened to the game on the radio. Vikings won 26-20 in overtime. Also, listened to part of the Seattle Seahawks 17-9 win over the Eagles. All the right teams won. Mary did money wrangling to pay bills and figure 2020 savings funds. Since funds looked solid, I paid our credit card bill to-date. Went to bed earlier than we have in eons, since we want to be to the vet with Mocha when they open at 8 am.

• Monday, 1/6: Drove to Hannibal and to the vet by opening time. Dr. Jill Briscoe, the first vet we saw with Mocha at the General Veterinary Clinic, thinks Mocha might have an enlarged kidney, a congenital condition. That's different from what Dr. Robert Carson, the other vet who saw Mocha, said the last time we were there. A serious kidney issue might mean we have to put her asleep. They're going to do blood work and kidney problems would show up with that. We'll see what develops. Left Mocha in Hannibal, got gas at Fastlane in Taylor, MO, and went home. Mary and I went for a walk to Wood Duck Pond and up the creek bed that drains into the pond. Lots of deer and huge raccoon tracks. On the way back, we walked down the trail I cut prior to deer hunting season into Rose Butt Field. Katie called when we returned to the house. She's tired with a bit of congestion. Part of volunteering to hold the flag involved putting white towels on every seat in the stadium in New Orleans the day prior. Her legs are sore from marching up and down the stadium. She enjoyed herself at the game and said it was a good one to be her first NFL live experience. She was surprised at how average-sized a lot of the good Vikings players were. The Vikings equipment guy she borrowed the helmet from and who took her photo, was surprised at how many Vikings fans there were amongst the military folks. The guy holding the flag next to her was from the Twin Cities. She said, "We were nerding out, together," about Vikings players. They were on the same side as the Vikings sideline. We didn't receive a call from the vet today, but they said they might have to give Mocha an IV and build her fluids up prior to taking a blood sample. That will take time. Saw a bald eagle while doing chores. Listened to several chapters of the audio book, Educated, by Tara Westhover, a spellbinding book about breaking away from a survivalist family in Idaho. 
• Tuesday, 1/7: Our vet called around 9 am. The blood work on Mocha showed that kidneys were operating fine and white blood count was normal. We gave Dr. Phil Briscoe (husband of Jill who saw us yesterday) the go-ahead to do exploratory surgery on Mocha. He did and called at 1:30 pm. He found a large bone in Mocha's small intestine, removed it, sewed her back up, and she was starting to lift her head at that moment. "I don't know what critter she was trying to eat," he said, "but it was definitely bigger than her." He wants to wait 24 hours and see her get an appetite. He said he'd call us in the morning. I moved all of the wood that has been drying in the machine shed to the woodshed. Then, I split the most recently cut red oak logs and stacked most of them in the machine shed to dry. Built an outside fire and had a "meatie" roast...slabs of pork tenderloin stabbed with metal weiner-roasting sticks and cooked on an open fire. Was delicious. Mary made a shopping list for tomorrow. She swept and dusted, and opened up the north bedroom that was housing Mocha's food, water, and litter box. 
• Wednesday, 1/8: At 8:46 am we got a message from our vet that Mocha was alert, doing well, and would be ready for us to pick her up after 2 pm. We were going to go shopping in Quincy, but decided to postpone that. Drove to Hannibal and got Mocha. She's much more alert and eating like gangbusters...4 meals between 3:45 and bedtime. We watched 3 episodes of Ken Burns' Civil War to finish it. Set up a bed on the floor in our bedroom for the kitten. Mocha said the hell with that and slept between our pillows.

Mocha Bean is home!

• Thursday, 1/9: I shopped in Quincy while Mary stayed home with pets and Mocha. Dropped off more electronic stuff (mostly old computer cords) at Staples. Got 2 new smoke alarms at Home Depot. Shopped Sam's Club, Walmart, County Market, and Aldi for food and Farm & Home for pet food. At 1 point, I texted Mary, asking how Mocha was and she sent the photo below. Mocha ate 6 times. Mary added hay to the chicken coop in prep for bad weather. Goldie, our newest Buff Orpington hen, is laying small eggs. Mary waxed the human door, so we can get in. Prediction is for 0.1 to 0.3 inch of ice and 30 mph winds over the weekend. Can you say the potential for no electricity? Glad we heat with a wood stove.

"Looks okay to me."

• Friday, 1/10: Started day with Mocha refusing to eat. Gave her laxative, twice, and she slept all day. She perked up around 9 pm, was in the kitchen while Mary was making a ham sandwich, ate a bit of ham and meowed for more. I fed her bits of mine, then made a ham/water slurry in a bowl, which she drank and ate, then snarfed regular cat food. She obviously needed a day of rest. With a potentially bad ice storm coming, Mary made a big pot of vegetable soup and biscuits, and raked leaves, which she put on the compost. I removed a rain gutter that was over the north AC, so it wouldn't clog with ice and break off, pumped up the driver's side front tire on the Buick that had gone flat, and split the remaining big logs and stacked them in the Machine Shed. It started pouring rain while I was stacking firewood (after sundown) and rained all evening. We even had a bit of thunder. When we walked the dogs after midnight, the lawn and our lane was awash in water. It was starting to freeze at that moment, with mist coming down...glad I don't have to drive anywhere.
• Saturday, 1/11: After a pile of rain overnight, it was snowing by morning. Kept chickens inside and we stayed inside, too. Mocha is eating healthy. Did the ham/water slurry twice to make sure she consumed water. She's pooping, too. We're probably the only kitten owners who cheer when our little cat takes a shit. Mary made a pear cake, heavily laced with brandy. Vikings lost to 49ers in playoffs. Titans beat Ravens...don't care. Watched 2 movies...Hot Fuzz and I.Q. Had tea and cake with the movies. Storm is over for us and we didn't get much, which is just fine. A bald eagle flew low over the house...kind of common this time of year...we usually see 1 every day.