March 8-14, 2020

Weather | 3/8, 39°, 68° | 3/9, 1.38" rain, 45°, 54° | 3/10, 0.04" rain, 32°, 52° | 3/11, 38°, 58° | 3/12, 40°, 55° | 3/13, 29°, 49° | 3/14, snow or 0.56" moisture, 28°, 33° |

Sunday, 3/8: Mary washed all of the clothes. The wind was howling out of the south. The last load went on the line at 12:30 and was nice and dry 2 hours later. She also vacuumed bugs, did all of the evening chores, and figured our funds for the month. That damn cat, Mocha, has put a wrench into our savings plans. But, she's so cute. I sent a series of texts to a used truck owner in Alexander, IL, who has a 1996 Chevrolet 1500 pickup for sale for $3600. Kelley Blue book puts that vehicle in excellent condition at $2500. I offered $2400, because it has some clear coat pealing on the hood. He said he won't go down that low. He's going to own the truck well into the future. I took the chainsaw down the ditch just east of the house and sawed firewood from elm and cherry trees, plus fallen maple branches. The newly hand-sharpened chain worked very well. I drove the tractor down and loaded up a very full wagon load of wood, parking it in the machine shed. My wine still bubbles, but it takes over a minute for the airlock to burp.

Monday, 3/9: It rain all day, today, until there were puddles in the lawn and down the lane. Mary made tortillas. I vegetated on the computer, accomplishing absolutely nothing. Mary helped me look for leathercraft blogs and websites.

Tuesday, 3/10: We voted in the primary election in Lewistown, MO. I mixed up a batch of dormant oil spray and started spraying the Esopus Spitzenburg apple tree's trunk when the sprayer quit. A vinyl bladder that inflates in the sprayer had a small crack in it. I tried to patch it with a rubber tire patch, which held for about 2 minutes. I looked online for availability of sprayers in Quincy and then drove there, visiting Home Depot, Lowes and Menards. Bought a Solo 2-gallon sprayer at Menards. While driving up the driveway upon returning home, a woodcock flew up and ahead of the car, then landed in the driveway. I had to get out of the car and shoo it off the lane, or I would have squished it. Woodcocks are smaller than I imagined...about the size of a dove. Their bill goes halfway down their body. When they fly, their wings look like a hummingbird's wings...really odd-looking birds.

Wednesday, 3/11: Mary washed towels, cleaned weeds out of the asparagus bed, vacuumed bugs, and sprayed the bay trees, taking scales off them. I sprayed dormant oil on outside fruit trees using my new hand sprayer, which is a vast improvement from the crappy old one that we bought in early 2000s from the hardware store in Circle, MT. All told, it involved 11 trees (apple, crab apple, cherry, and pear trees). Then, I looked at the Grime's Golden apple tree, that Mary said was too far gone. I spotted what looked like live buds on it, so I sprayed it. Had leftover mixed-up spray, so I did the ancient McIntosh apple tree. It's in horrible shape, with a hollow trunk, many dead branches, and in need of intense pruning. I hope to take graftings from it to start new trees next year. Cleaning the dormant oil from the sprayer involved getting Mary's skinnier arm in the bottle. Katie texted us that she was supposed to leave for Ireland on her tour today, but decided against traveling, due to the coronavirus...a smart decision.

Thursday, 3/12: Last night on Facebook, I found a 2003 half-ton Chevy pickup for sale in Canton, MO. It was priced about half what Kelley Blue Book said it's worth. I left a message asking for details. Never got an answer back, then this morning, I saw it retracted from Facebook, and then put back online, so I asked if it was still available and where the guy was located. The seller, Nathan Bringer, only told me he was near LaGrange, never answered questions about the truck's details, and then took the listing off. Good riddance! A couple days ago, I attempted to order rubber boots from Galeton, a New England company, but when I discovered that shipping was $24.90, just $1 less than the cost of the boots, $25.95, I quit. After an online search, I discovered the same boots could be ordered through Home Depot for $23.50 and shipped free to the Quincy Home Depot store. I ordered them on Monday and got an email today that they were in Quincy, so we decided to get them and items we couldn't find when we last shopped in Quincy. We got some of the items, but panic coronavirus shopping has eliminated several items from stores, such as powdered milk...there is none in any Quincy stores. We didn't need any, but TP is only signified by shelf labels. With TP out, shopping carts are loaded with nose tissue boxes. People must think this virus is going to give them excess shit and snot. Cases of bottled water were going like hotcakes, too. I tell you, people are nuts! After returning home, we ate nachos and watched the movie, Australia. The spring peepers (frogs) are really loud each night, now.

Friday, 3/13: Before the morning sun rose, I watched 4 fairly large deer walk by the north end of the far east garden into our north yard. They were probably bucks with their antlers gone. Mary washed the rest of the towels and last of the sheets from visiting kids at Christmas. Late morning, I got into a Facebook discussion with Lynn, said something to Mary, who said, "Two retired guys with lots of time on their hands getting into an argument over a damn spider!" I thought, you're right, shut off my laptop, and went outside. I moved all of the firewood I cut a few days ago to correct locations via a wheelbarrow. Used old pieces of OSB to walk across mud in the machine shed to get to the wagon. The ruts from driving the tractor in and out are so deep, I occasionally talk to little Chinese people. Read a bunch online and looked for powdered milk...don't think it's available nationwide. Texted Mom a little bit about chicken pox and shingles. When we shut devices off for the night, the only state that didn't have a confirmed case of coronavirus was West Virginia.

Saturday, 3/14: It alternately snowed, sleeted, and rained most of the day...kind of a nasty day. The floor of the machine shed is mainly full of standing water. Puddles are everywhere. Rubber boots are a necessity. In the morning, when there was still snow on the ground, we saw a big turkey track crossing the lane. Spent all day inside wallowing in internet news. Ordered some calcium pills. Bill called and talked to both of us. Katie texted both of us. She's happy she didn't go on her Ireland trip. Coronavirus showing up more in mid-Illinois, so Quincy is closing down all schools on Monday. The Quincy Symphony Orchestra concerts are postponed. It's easy for us to hole up at home...hell, that's how we live, anyway.