May 17-23, 2020

Weather | 5/17, 0.25" rain, 59°, 67° | 5/18, 0.02" mist, 53°, 57° | 5/19, 53°, 61° | 5/20, 0.03" mist, 54°, 63° | 5/21, 53°, 65° | 5/22, 55°, 77° | 5/23, 61°, 79° |

• Sunday, 5/17: Rain to partly cloudy to a cloudy day. Mary got a haircut from what she says is the world's greatest bald barber. We saw a photo on KHQA's website of Quincy Tea Party protesters of Illinois' coronavirus shut down with a sign that read, "Harapist are essential." Mary says she should go there with a sign reading, "Bald men make the best barbers." Mary did a deep clean on all four of our electric fans. I updated my wine diary, then dug up 4-8-foot pieces of hog fences that I put between hazelnut bushes a few years back to prevent deer from walking through and browsing on the bushes. I want the fence pieces to make climbing fences for snow peas and we don't think deer like hazelnut bushes. I cut 6 head-high persimmon trees that I'll use as cross-bracing for my pea fence. Cutting these small trees cleared enough room around a small Jonathan tree for me to install a cow panel around that tree. I helped Mary pick radishes, while she picked baby spinach to add to our home grown chicken meal. Then, I spent several hours looking for white grape frozen concentrate, an often called-for ingredient in several wine recipes. It doesn't exist in any grocery store in the states of MO, IL, or IA. There is just plain 64-ounce bottles of the juice, but it can't be used, because it contains the same chemical I use to kill yeast as its preservative. White grape concentrate sold by winemaking suppliers costs $25, which is crazy. Then, I discovered Gerber sells 32 ounce white grape juice that has no preservatives for $2.03, available at Quincy's Walmart. It was way beyond bedtime during my Gerber "Eureka moment!" when Mary declared I am an obsessive-compulsive wine twit. I plead guilty to the charge.


• Monday, 5/18: It was a misty morning. Mary made 2 pin cushions for sewing kits she's made out of padded pencil cases. I saw a bald eagle fly low over the grain bins and the machine shed. I got a 4 am email from Hartville Hardware stating that the order I canceled on Saturday cannot be canceled, since the package was already shipped. USPS Tracking told me that the label was created at 8 am and USPS had not received the package, yet. So I called Wells Fargo and had them stop my credit card charge to that company. Later in the day, I got Hartville Hardware's package in the mail. It didn't have postage on it, which is why we had to pay $3.80 in COD charges Saturday. There was no return address, either. And, they never informed Amazon that they even had it or sent the items. Obviously, they never kept track that they sent it, either. I didn't open the package. It was just a plastic envelope, so I could feel the gas filters inside. I'm going to send it back. I weedwhacked most of the swim pond trail, then trimmed poison ivy away from the rain gauge pole and weedwhacked down poison ivy plants growing along the east side of our lane to the halfway point opposite Bluegill Pond. We watched the first 2 episodes Ken Burns' documentary, The Vietnam War, that Katie gave Mary for Christmas. It's quite good.


• Tuesday, 5/19: I put the return address on the gas filter package, added "Return to Sender," and mailed it back. Mary baked 4 loaves of bread. She also weeded the snow peas. The Baltimore oriole made it home today. I weedwhacked the rest of the poison ivy on our lane, including a stretch on the gravel road between the mailbox and our fence. Mary noticed poison ivy itchies, so she avoided walking the dogs down the lane. I got fuel line hose clamps in today's mail. We watched Episode 3 of The Vietnam War. We had mist after dark.


• Wednesday, 5/20: Mary patched a pair of jeans, oiled the woodstove pipe, so it won't rust while not being used through the summer, and cut scapes off garlic plants. I was online most of the day. Mary's scissors, which she ordered in April and the package got buried in the U.S. Postal Service's Hazelwood, MO facility for weeks, arrived today. We watched Episode 4 of The Vietnam War. We had another misty evening. I see a second package of filters coming from Hartville Hardware and I see a second charge on our credit card from them.


• Thursday, 5/21: Mary made flour tortillas and chimichangas. I called Wells Fargo on the second charge from Ohio on gas filters I don't want, but was put on hold for 30 minutes, afterwhich I hung up. I got another package from Ohio with 1 filter in it...sigh! Bill called. He got 2 cloth face masks from his employer. It's the first time his employer says they have to wear face masks. We watched Episode 5 of The Vietnam War.


• Friday, 5/22: A strong thunderstorm went through McCone County, MT, overnight. I saw a McCone County Sheriff warning on Facebook about wind blowing house roofs off in Brockway, MT. Mom said there were 110 mph winds. Mom's boss had damage at their ranch, Karen said. Mom said there was no damage at her house. Later, I saw where McCone Co. Electric Co-op had 100 downed electrical poles. Mary made 2 quiche pies to use up old eggs. She did a load of laundry, some garden weeding, cut garlic scapes, and harvested 2/3 of the radishes. I washed my coveralls, helped Mary with the radishes, called the Ohio bunch about the returned gas filters, returned their second package, received the filters I want to use and then fixed Mary's mower by adding new fuel hoses, new clamps, and a new gas filter. It started on the first pull and ran perfectly. Mom texted that her annual checkup went fine. We watched the 6th Vietnam War episode.


• Saturday, 5/23: This was the first completely sunny day since May 8th. A lot of garden plants wilted, because they aren't used to continuous sunshine. After Mary watered them, they perked up. I took down the vegetation in the chicken run with the steel blade on the Stihl grass trimmer, then I finished whacking the trail to the Swim Pond. When I got to the water's edge, a bull frog jumped into the water and a bass swam in and ate it. The pond's water is brown and it's extremely high. Mary mowed the front east yard with a bag on the mower and mulched over what would have been peas, if cardinals hadn't eaten all of the pea seeds. She also finished mulching the snow peas. I took apart the living room AC and used a toothbrush, rag, and water from the garden hose to clean it, put it back together, then let it dry overnight on the porch. We watched the 7th Vietnam War episode. Katie sent a photo of a certificate from her college announcing that she was recognized as a 4.0 President's List Scholar.