May 31-June 6, 2020

Weather | 5/31, 54°, 79° | 6/1, 0.01" rain, 60°, 84° | 6/2, 63°, 87° | 6/3, 67°, 87° | 6/4, 0.03" rain, 66°, 87° | 6/5, 0.89" rain, 65°, 88° | 6/6, 69°, 89° |

• Sunday, 5/31: The day started cloudy, with sun shining through for most of the day. The day's nature report: 14 turkey vultures flying overhead at 1 time, a pair of red-headed woodpeckers nesting at the dry pond east of the house (haven't seen them nesting on our property for several years), and a great blue heron flew overhead. E-mails from Dave Parmeter and John Hendrix informed the Homer H.S. Class of '75 that an evening beach picnic at Anchor Point (AK) will be the extent of this year's 45th reunion, due to the virus, and a bigger event will take place in 2025. That's a good decision. The Anchorage Daily News reports the largest single-day number of COVID-19 cases today. KHQA in Quincy, IL reports 53 cases in Adair County (MO), 2 counties west of us. They also report 1,343 cases in IL in 1 day, with 60 new deaths in 1 day. Mary washed sheets, furniture covers, towels, and did some cleaning. She made a General Tso Chinese dinner with deer meat. I mowed our 1/4-mile lane...an arduous, day-long task with a push mower and knee-high white clover. Mary often does that job, but I did it this time, since too many poison ivy plants are popping up and pulverizing them with mower blades puts a rash on her, whereas it doesn't affect me. She is one tough woman. I stopped often to catch my breath. We've been saying it for 10 years, but we really need more mechanized lawn mowing equipment...something with a seat! Mary mowed part of the far garden that is now a hay field.


• Monday, 6/1: We had a little bit of rain in the morning, but it turned sunny. The day's nature: a dead robin in the far garden that must have died of old age while sitting upright; a squirrel on the lane when we walked dogs that ran right at Mary, hesitated a foot away from her left foot, then dodged into the tall grass to avoid our dogs; 2 hunting red-tailed hawks flying eastward. I cleaned the 4th and last window AC and installed it in 1 the north entryway windows, sealed it and installed foil with aluminum tape on the outside to divert water and bugs. Mary finished mowing the far garden, including outside the electric fence, then mowed a piece of lawn north of the near garden. Originally, I was going to go shopping in Quincy, but with 90° predicted this week, decided getting the last AC into place was more important. 


• Tuesday, 6/2: There were wet bunny tracks on our wooden porch when we walked dogs in early morning hours. It was hot and sunny all day. We voted in Missouri's delayed municipal election. Voted against school district and nursing home tax increases. We were on the winning side of the nursing home ballot, but lost on the school district item. It won by 6 votes. Our property taxes just went up...we estimate by $93. I helped Mary water plants in the near garden. I put foil on the outside of all of the rest of the window ACs with aluminum tape to seal out rainwater and bugs. Ground-level ACs and the 2nd-story north AC with a ground-level roof to stand on are easy. It was trickier on the aluminum extension ladder for the east-facing AC in our bedroom. We're sealed and delivering cool air inside our house, now. Mary washed all clothes, except jeans. She used the bagger on her mower to pick up mowed grass in the far garden and apply more mulch on far garden rows. I did the same thing to mowed grass north of the near garden. While unloading a bag of grass, Mary hollered, "Look up." There was an Air Force stealth bomber flying east to west. It was louder than commercial jets and moving well beyond where the sound was coming from, yet below the speed of sound, since there wasn't a sonic boom. Stealth bombers are based at Ft. Leonard, MO, located 230 miles due south of us. Mary said she's heard that jet sound at night, but never seen one, since aircraft lights are off when a stealth airplane is traveling in the dark. Their sound isn't to stealthy, though.


• Wednesday, 6/3: It was a bad day in many respects. First, we had several thunderstorms develop right over our heads. You could watch the clouds grow straight up into the sky. With thunder cracking above all afternoon, we were driven inside...neither of us are going to stand outside with thunder overhead. I was able to saw up 4 pieces of inch-thick persimmon trees into 3-foot braces for a pea fence. Mary started weeding onions. While inside, I discovered that the AC in the entryway's north window died...the electrical motor gave out. I found lower gums in my mouth that are receding too much. Glad the day is over!


• Thursday, 6/4: It was a sunny, hot, and muggy day. I finished the pea fence, while Mary finished weeding onions and shallots. Without weeds, they look great. She also cut garlic scapes and reported that we'll be harvesting and hanging garlic, soon. I helped Mary water all of the garden plants. I ordered toilet paper through Sam's Club, since you can't seem to buy it in Quincy. It seems the first thing of importance in a pandemic is your ass. Save the asses! I also mowed on both sides of the near garden fence and weedwhacked under the fence of the near garden, finishing up at 9 pm.


• Friday, 6/5: We woke to thunder and dark green clouds to the west. I roared out of bed, remembering that I left the mower outside and the chicken windows were open. I got the mower into the machine shed, while Mary closed coop windows. It started raining right when we both finished and came on with torrential rain and strong wind...happy to report no water intrusion around window ACs, due to my foil/aluminum tape job. I shopped in Quincy. It's back to normal on traffic in the city. About 50% of the people wear masks in a state where a face mask is required when outside of your home. I wore a mask. Picked up a new AC to replace our recent dead one. Back home, Mary patched a pair of her jeans, telling me in a text that "my fingers are hurting." She finished cross stitching a Christmas ornament. She also sorted bad squash and old garlic from last year's gardening efforts, along with store-bought onions, and tossed them. She started a new set of last year's sweet potatoes for slips, since the store-bought sweet potatoes she started several weeks ago are barely progressing. After I got home from shopping, unloaded the car, and Mary did chores, we ate nachos and watched the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. On the last dog walk, you could swim through the air, it was so damp and muggy. The lightning bugs loved it, though.


• Saturday, 6/6: It was a hot day. I removed the old AC and installed the new one I bought yesterday into the north window of the entryway. It's my 5th, and hopefully final, AC install for the year. Mary made flour tortillas. She mowed the front east lawn. I restarted weed whacking under the far garden fence, which is slow and tricky, since the electric fence wires are buried under last year's dead grass and this year's tall grass. You have to inch up on covered wires without snatching them up with the twirling grass trimmer head. After 2 tanks of gas in the whacker, I put the bag on the mower and picked up already mowed grass while Mary used it to finish mulching the onions. They are doing very well.