- Sunday, 2/23: Mary did laundry, washing and drying all of the clothes. She filled the outside line 2 times. The hose that connects to an outside discharge hose came loose and spewed water all over the laundry room until Bill jumped back there and pulled the electrical cord on the washing machine. Consequently, I had to dry the bottom cardboard box that holds the Christmas tree. Bill went through 2 boxes of books he had stored here, sorted out ones he doesn't want and took the rest with him. He also changed oil on his car engine and while cleaning up, he stumbled over some wires of an old lightning rod at the east end of the Machine Shed and fell on a piece of angle iron, putting a gash into below his left knee. It also put a hole in his pants. He didn't notice the injury until he felt wetness on his pants. Dr. Mary worked on him and bandaged him up. He sent a photo of his injury after he drove to St. Louis and it was bleeding, again. He got it to stop. He needs to check on a tetanus shot ASAP. We had lots of snow geese flying west over the property. I heard the first American Woodcock of the season while walking Churchill. Mary vacuumed bugs that were in all of our windows, due to warm temperatures. I ordered more of a type of pill that helps me with keeping blood sugar levels down.
- Monday, 2/24: We woke to rain. I found a nice 1996 Chevy half-ton pickup located at Alexander, IL, or about 120 miles east of us. Mary doesn't feel up to riding and driving today. Looked up Kelley Blue Book pricing and the requested price is about $1100 higher than one in excellent condition, so we're going to let that one wait and then offer a price closer to the KBB rate. I called the Iowa State Extension and put my name down for fruit tree grafting workshop at the Appleberry Orchard near Donnelson, Iowa, on April 2. It's a 65-mile one-way drive NNE of us. Checked the grapefruit wine and it's fizzing more than ever. Mary and Katie texted a bunch about a personality test she took for a college class. Bill's injury hurts, but is healing.
- Tuesday, 2/25: Woke to about 1/4" of wet snow. Churchill has complete conniption fits going up the stairs of the porch, so starting last night, Mary and I carry him up the steps...easier than me trying to carry him, since he's the size of an oxen. They're predicting 2-4" snow tonight. I saw an owl flying between oak tree limbs next to the west field this morning. Wine still fizzes abundantly. I split wood that was in the Machine Shed. Found hundreds of black ants in the mulberry wood. What I thought was white oak is actually ash...can tell by how it splinters when split. Around 3 pm, several Vs of snow geese filled the sky. I took 2 videos from the porch of them going overhead, but the videos don't do justice to how many were flying overhead (see below). Churchill only ate 1 meal in the morning and refused all other offers. His last outside visit was at noon.
- Wednesday, 2/26: Woke to 1/2" of snow and strong NW winds. Mary made a batch of chocolate chip cookies...yum! I researched ideas on boosting the amount of chain lubricating oil that gets deposited on the bar and chain of the chainsaw. Professional arborists say my saw, a Stihl 361 Professional, is a good one. It uses 50% less oil than older machines. My grapefruit wine is still bubbling, with a burp in the airlock every 14 seconds.
- Thursday, 2/27: I cleaned the chainsaw, increased the chain oil adjustment to maximum, which is what professionals do, put on a different chain, and cut firewood near the gravel road, just west of our lane. I sawed up an oak branch that was the size of a medium tree, 3 small mulberry trees, 2 ash trees, a cherry, and several maple branches. I then stacked all of it on small branches in the field. I'll move the wood when the ground is frozen tomorrow morning. Mary made 2 egg quiches, washed a load of towels, dried them on the line, and did some cleaning. She still has to stop and stretch her back and leg, occasionally. We saw thousands of snow geese flying east to west. I noticed 2 American woodcocks after sunset. Found 2 small cracks in both of my rubber boots...time to order a new pair. I put them through hell around here. This pair lasted about 11 months, which is better than most. We sorted through Bill's throwaway books and I kept an old ROTC loose leaf planner that I'm going to get regular paper for and turn it into my wine diary. The wine is burping every 15 seconds.
- Friday, 2/28: Ate a quick breakfast, then drove the tractor down to my temporary wood pile and moved the firewood I cut yesterday to the woodshed and stacked it. Moved big pieces to be split with the wheelbarrow to the wood splitter in the Machine Shed and moved split ash from the Machine Shed to the woodshed. Seeing thousands more snow geese. Saw 3 Cooper's hawks flying south to north. Mary baked 4 loaves of bread and did some cross stitching. I cleaned my saw and cut more firewood just a little north of where I was yesterday...mainly dead standing white oak trees, 4 cherry trees, and a mulberry. I didn't stack...just left pieces where they fell. Churchill barely ate today, but took a walk around the north yard, longer than he has in a couple weeks. Wine burping every 16 seconds. We had 5 American woodcocks calling at dusk, one was right behind the cars as we stood on the porch.
- Saturday, 2/29: Churchill was panting when we woke. Did another quick breakfast and drove tractor to cherry tree that I cut yesterday at edge of woods and collected up all of my firewood. It filled the wagon. Ground was frozen when I arrived, but thawed when I left to go home. While I was gone, Churchill died at 8:50 am. I arrived back home around 10. Mary and I carried Churchill's body outside and used a wheelbarrow to move him to behind the second grain bin, out of the sun. We unloaded the firewood, then ate lunch. Bill called. His leg is better. He got a tetanus shot on Wednesday. His car battery died Wednesday morning, so he bought a charger. I started digging a grave about 1 pm, immediately north of where we buried Klondike, our golden retriever who died in 2016. Mary joined me. It was really tough digging, because it's wet, heavy clay with half-inch tree roots through it. At 3, we took a break and had some cookies. The hole was about 2 feet deep. I went back out and got it down to 3-4 feet. The sticky clay got wetter as I went down. Mary did all of the chores, then we buried Churchill, covered his grave with concrete blocks to prevent critters from digging, and finishing up at the dark end of twilight, at 6:35 pm. We ate chili. I had 2 brandy/Cokes. Mary just had Coke. We watched Leap Year, of course, and then While You Were Sleeping. I snored through most of 2nd movie. Went to bed with a lot of sore muscles. My second amaryllis is blooming (see photo below).
 |
| Samba single Royal Dutch Amaryllis (lipstick-red, white star). |
No comments:
Post a Comment