March 22-28, 2020

Weather | 3/22, 0.13" melted snow, 28°, 35° | 3/23, 31°, 45° | 3/24, 32°, 49° | 3/25, 39°, 57° | 3/26, 41°, 55° | 3/27, 41°, 55° | 3/28, 0.35" rain, 51°, 71° |

• Sunday, 3/22: It snowed most of the day, but it all melted as it hit the ground. It's a squishy step everywhere you walk. Mary made venison stew and biscuits. She also did some drawing and cross stitching. I was an internet news-reading bum throughout the day. I did take time out to order Mary a pair of boots, since her's started cracking just a couple days ago. Was going to have them delivered to home, but Home Depot's shipping was too high. Added buying another smoke alarm to make their $45 minimum for free shipping, but it's shipped from a different location, so they still charge shipping. I said, "Fine, you asses!" and had it shipped for free to the Quincy store. We'll make a reconnaissance mission, equipped with alcohol and latex glove artillery, when her boots arrive in Quincy. Bill is feeling much better and texted that it was the first day since Tuesday that he hasn't taken a acetaminophen. Katie texted that she traded some potatoes and beer bread for some homemade rabbit and sausage gumbo and some fresh eggs.


• Monday, 3/23: After I woke and was staring out the north bedroom window to the NE, I saw the following: 1) a coyote walking east to west, 2) a big raccoon lumbering south to north along the edge of our far garden, 3) two deer that headed SE, got spooked by something on the gravel road and ran to the north, and 4) two more deer deliberately walking south to north. Then I looked out the east windows of our bedroom and saw 2 more deer walking toward the house, then turned at the garden and followed it to the north, then veered NW into the woods. Then saw a barred owl land on a cedar tree near Dove Pond. We are just visitors on our land. The wildlife own the land. I was online all day. Mary drew a wine bottle and crocheted. I put part of a crushed Campden tablet in the grapefruit wine, since the bubbling was nearly stopped. It fizzed a great deal with the introduction of that powder, which would be sulfur gas being released from the Campden tablet. I tasted a tiny bit of the Campden powder mixed with distilled water and it tastes like intense rotten egg...really hideous...had to wash it down with 2 Cokes.


• Tuesday, 3/24: Mary made a batch of flour tortillas and then chimichangas. She drew a set of 3 acorn caps. I spent time online. We heard a wild turkey for first time while doing evening chores. I found several wine making suppliers online. Midwest Supply, in the Twin Cities, boosted shipping charges to close to $20, which made me look elsewhere. In the evening, I produced a chart listing various wine types I want to make, along with yeast types and unique ingredients required by each wine. Mary's boots are in Quincy, so we might go there tomorrow to pick them up and a couple items.


• Wednesday, 3/25: Even though we knew that Mary's boots made it to Quincy's Home Depot store this morning, we decided if we didn't get an email from them by 1:30 pm, we'd postpone and go in tomorrow, since there are fewer people shopping in mornings than afternoons. We got the email mid-afternoon, so we stayed home. I cut a wagon load of firewood from dead trees that are located on both sides of a creek that flows down the hill, eastward from the house. My chainsaw ran out of gas just after I downed a good sized ash tree, so I still have to go back and saw it up. I parked the load of wood in the Machine Shed. Mary cleaned house, drew a crumpled jacket, and did cross stitch.


• Thursday, 3/26: We went to Quincy, picked up Mary's new boots at Home Depot, and bought items we couldn't find the last time we shopped. This time, we found everything. The streets were quiet, and the stores were emptier, but not as vacant as one would imagine. Prior to going, I soaked 5 folded paper towels with alcohol for the 5 expected shopping stops and put them in a Ziploc baggie. We also took our boxes of latex gloves that we already own for butchering deer every fall. We wore a new set of gloves for each store we shopped in. We were the only shoppers doing that. Mostly, we saw older people wondering around as if there wasn't a care in the world, which is kind of weird with the explosion of coronavirus cases in Illinois and Missouri. It took us 2 hours to shop. Bought gas on the way home at $1.57 a gallon, the lowest price we've seen in years. After putting stuff away, doing chores and eating, we watched the 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast, 2 times, again.


• Friday, 3/27: I made breakfast waffles. Mary did more cleaning today. We both vacuumed bugs several times. The Asian ladybugs are really on the go with increased temperatures. I unloaded the wagon of firewood and cleaned and sharpened one of the chainsaw chains. Cleaning each tooth with gasoline and a brass brush, then sharpening with a round file and an appropriate jig takes more time, but the result is tremendously better than using the grinder. While working on the chain, I heard chickens squawking, ran next door to the chicken yard and a Cooper's Hawk had Goldie, the Buff Orpington hen, on the ground at the north end of the run. I ran up and the hawk flew up and landed in a tree just north of the yard. I then growled and shouted loud enough to echo off the trees and it flew away to the north. Goldie walked off just fine, after losing about 20 feathers. It was a good thing I was nearby, or she would have died. Mary made an autumn olive pie, which we snarfed half of while reading and enjoying loose leaf tea. Bill called and talked to both of us. He feels fine and actually ran yesterday. He's in his confinement until Wednesday (4/1). His place of employment is still working. He talked to his boss for an hour today, helping with a program that no one else seems to know how to use.


• Saturday, 3/28: We woke to a thunderstorm in the morning. Read a bunch online. Silly John Hendrix is still organizing for a class reunion in Homer, AK. I think it's nonsense with a worldwide pandemic escalating. Mocha first spotted it out the south window of the living room and when I looked, she was eyeballing a large black racer snake in the grass. Mary made Maid Rites for our main meal. She also gathered dandelion greens that we ate as a salad. Again, we alternated between each of us vacuuming the bugs many times today. They were thick inside the house. I took the dogs for a long walk to Wood Duck Pond. When we got into the woods next to Wood Duck Pond, five deer ran off through the woods to the south. The dogs loved the walk. Mary discovered that 3 pie cherry trees that we thought died last summer are actually alive. My wine is still bubbling and it shouldn't be. I might have to rack it again and add another Campden tablet to kill the yeast.