Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2020

Weather | 11/29, 35°, 45° | 11/30, 23°, 31° | 12/1, 15°, 40° | 12/2, 16°, 46° | 12/3, 23°, 45° | 2/4, 25°, 49° | 12/5, 27°, 49° |

• Sunday, 11/29: Bill Leaves
  
  • Mary made venison stew and biscuits, because Bill asked for it, earlier. It was really good. Bill had a second helping of biscuits with jelly on them, then groaned with a smile, from eating too much.
    
  • Bill left for his apartment around 2 pm.
  • Mary helped Katie start her cross stitch kit that Mary gave Katie for Christmas, so Katie will be able to continue with the project while she's babysitting the 5 electric generators during Christmas at Nuiqsut, AK, while her fellow workers are taking Christmas vacation.
  • I moved the 4-gallon buckets containing strawberry plants and the ten 4-gallon buckets of apple root stock trees into the machine shed for winter protection. I was worried that the apple tree roots went through screening covering holes in the bottom of the buckets, but I only had a couple small roots that ventured below the bucket bottoms.
  • I checked the garlic wine and the specific gravity was 1.032, so I racked it into a glass gallon jug and fit the jug with a sanitized airlock. The clean up of the brew bucket and the mesh bag will be extensive to eliminate the garlic smell. I'm guessing that chlorine might help.
    
  • Katie packed her stuff, since she has a 7 am plane departure, tomorrow.
    
    
• Monday, 11/30: A Day of Fiascos
  • We woke at 3:45 am, ate biscuits with jelly for breakfast, then I drove Katie to the Quincy (IL) airport. After Katie went through security, I waited in the car to watch the plane take off. Mary and I texted setting moon photos to each other, then Katie called, saying that the flight was canceled, due to severe crosswinds at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. She was able to change reservations for similar times tomorrow at no charge.
  • The State of Alaska COVID stipulation is a test must be taken within 72 hour prior to arriving in Alaska. Katie's COVID test administered on Saturday will be outdated with an Anchorage arrival tomorrow, so we checked for COVID test sites in Quincy, since we were in the Gem City. HyVee was on an online search. Katie asked the college-age representative behind the counter, who told her to fill out an online form. Katie tried, but got tomorrow's date, and asked why. "Oh, I'm sorry," said the young lady. "We don't do those tests on Monday." #@$*!!!
  • In the HyVee parking lot, Katie called Quincy's main hospital, Blessing, and was told that she could get the test. She was asked questions. When the health insurance provider question came up, Katie gave a number on her card, and the Blessing worker said something came up, but she didn't know if that was Katie's health insurance, so she'd just send Katie the bill. Katie called her boss in Nuiqsut, got the health insurance number from him. It's the same as on her card. Katie called the Blessing worker back, told her as much, and was told, "Okay, then this will go to your health insurance provider." THEN, WHY SEND A FULL BILL! *$%@#!!!
  • We shopped for a few groceries and ate lunch at Subway to eat up time. Then went to the address supplied by Blessing for her 11:10 am appointment. It's an old warehouse (see photos below) turned into a drive-through COVID test administration site, complete with kerosene heaters, laptops, and nurses wearing stuff that looks like they belong on the moon. Katie got her test. The nurse said Katie would need to call a number to get a sheet of paper stating she took the test (a requirement for getting off the airplane in Anchorage). She called the number and was told that paper was available where we got the test. *#$%!@ I got back in the vehicle line and after another wait, we got the required paper. The nurse who administered Katie's test said, "Oh, I thought you meant the actual test results. I could have given you this the first time you went through the line." #&*!@$
  • While we were in car lines, Mary collected up and cut some firewood back at home.
  • Katie and I drove to Lewistown, where I got a vehicle inspection for the Cadillac, then we drove home. After unloading, I drove to our county seat in Monticello, MO, and got new stickers for the Cadillac's plates, since they expire tomorrow.
  • After chores, we ate the last of Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. YUM!
    
    
• Tuesday, 12/1: Firewood Production Begins
  
  • We were up, again, at 3:45 am, to light a fire in the woodstove, eat a quick breakfast, and load the car. I drove Katie to the Quincy airport, and today, her plane took off at 7:30 to Chicago. She said O'Hare in Chicago was extremely quiet (see photo below). She took a flight to Minneapolis, then to Anchorage, getting in at 11:30 pm our time. While sitting in Minneapolis, she got her COVID test results from both Hannibal Clinic and Quincy's Blessing Hospital, both showing negative, which is good. 
  • Mary raked leaves to put in the compost bin and in blueberry plant containers. She then helped me.
  • I split firewood that I cut last spring. It sat next to the wood splitter all summer and fall. Several of the logs came from a standing, yet barkless, hickory tree, and were hard to split. There are now 3 stacks of firewood that need to be moved from the machine shed to the woodshed. The woodshed is completely empty of firewood as of today.
    
  • I ordered a pair of Canadian-made SoftMoc double-sole moose leather moccasins, paying for most of it with a gift card from Mom and points earned from our checking account. My current moccasins have quarter-sized holes in the soles.
  • Mary ordered 7 books she's always wanted, using the same money sources.
  • I checked my garlic wine. It's still fermenting and gassing off CO2 bubbles, but the airlock's burping is slowing down. The brew bucket, soaking in oxygen cleaner, still reeks of garlic.

  

  A quiet Chicago O'Hare airport.
  

• Wednesday, 12/2: HHS Friends Help Katie
  
  • I sent out multiple requests for Anchorage apartment information to former Homer High School classmates who are living in Anchorage, or who have friends living there, for assistance in helping Katie find a place to rent. John Hendrix, who was boarding a plane in Dallas to go to Las Vegas to visit his son, asked for Katie to call him. She did and got advice on good vs. bad Anchorage neighborhoods. He said someone from Homer who graduated a few years after us, was the GM or CEO a few years ago of the company that employs Katie. Alison Boyce sent messages to her Anchorage-residing friends asking for help with Katie finding an Anchorage residence. Glen Williams gave advice on where to find rentals. Hopefully, some of this information will help.
  • Katie texted that her boss in Nuiqsut has shingles, instead of a blood clot in his leg, as he originally suspected.
  • I moved the firewood I split yesterday from the machine shed to the woodshed, creating a knee-high stack in the woodshed.
  • Mary tried to rake up mulch along trails, but couldn't find enough. She decided to quit, since the garlic is sprouting and sending up leaves. Frost needs to stunt the garlic, so a mulch is not appropriate right now.
  • She also trimmed weeping willow limbs that were hanging to the ground.
  • The garlic wine is producing fewer CO2 bubbles. Three days ago, right after installing an airlock, it was burping every 2 seconds. Today, it burps once a minute. A half-inch of yeast dead bodies lines the bottom of the 1-gallon glass jug.
  • Holly, one of our cats, licked a plate and bowl with such fervor that she pushed the 2 items off the table. They hit the floor with a crash and broke. She is not on our happy list. Instead, she's on another list.
    
    
• Thursday, 12/3: Ordering Day
  • The pressurized power steering hose in the Cadillac is leaking. I read online that GM had a recall on 2006 DTS cars that improper crimping of these hoses caused leaks and sometimes fires. I ordered a new hose from RockAuto. It was $44 with shipping. I checked online at 2 auto stores in Quincy. The same part is $100...wow, what a difference!
  • We got the Fedco seed catalog in the mail. Mary made a "wanted seed" list from the catalog and her notes. We then ordered online. Some of the seeds we want won't be into Fedco until Jan. 1, but we ordered anyway. With possible shortages, we want to get a jump on seed ordering. We then spent several hours oogling over other plants and trees.
  • Mary made venison General Tso for our main meal.
    
  • Katie texted that her boss suggested she investigate the duplex that he recently moved out of in Anchorage as a possible place to rent. Last we heard, he was going to text her the landlord's phone number.
  • After checking my brew bucket, I put a solution of Clorox and water in it, since the bucket still has a powerful odor of garlic.
    
    
• Friday, 12/4: First Day of Anterless Deer Season
  
  • The start of the 3-day anterless deer season is today. We heard a shot from Rich, our neighbor to the SW, this morning.
  • I split more wood in the machine shed.
  • Mary made flour tortillas. She also figured out and set aside savings funds, then paid the bills. Mary washed sheets, and set out salsa ingredients to thaw.
  • We learned from Katie that she will be in Anchorage until Dec. 11. The North Slope Borough wouldn't accept her test from Blessing Hospital in Quincy, IL, because her test results didn't indicate if it was a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which is required. The letter accompanying Katie's test results stated it was a PCR test, but that wasn't good enough. Her employer was disturbed that Katie didn't stipulate that the PCR test needed to be stated on the test result, but backed off when Katie explained about the hassles she endured in simply getting a test here.
  • A Messenger text from Alison Boyce, one of my Homer (AK) High School classmates went to several of her Anchorage friends asking for rental help for Katie. The main message was that renting with cats is a no-go.
    
    
• Saturday, 12/5: Saturday Game Night
  
  • Mary made and canned 13 quarts of salsa. Here's what goes in her salsa...5 gallons of tomatoes, 60 tomatillos, 35-40 various types of hot peppers, 6 onions, 6 garlic bulbs, 1/2 cup of sugar, tablespoon of salt, and 1.5 cup of Real lemon juice. She cooks it down, skimming off tomatoe skins, then cans it. All ingredients except for salt, sugar and lemon juice comes from our garden. It's really yummy!
    
  • The RockAuto order of the Cadillac steering line is being shipped through FedEx. Usually, I can change the order to be held at Walgreens in Quincy, but RockAuto won't allow people to change the destination, so they tell me via emails that I exchanged with them. So, since FedEx usually doesn't find our home, I have to wait until RockAuto gets the package returned to them. I might have to quit using RockAuto.
  • I changed oil for the logsplitter engine. I also cleaned and re-oiled the air filter sponge and cleaned the spark plug with a wire brush. The 5 horsepower commercial Briggs engine on the logsplitter ran better, as a result. I split the rest of the wood in the machine shed.
  • After dark, we decided to continue the Saturday tradition of playing a game, something we used to do when we lived in Circle, (MT), and played the board game, Sorry! Since there were only 2 of us, we played all 4 colors. I was yellow and red, and Mary was green and blue. The object was to get all 8 of your pieces home. Mary won 2 games and I won 2 games. It was fun.
  • Katie texted that she was mapping out rentals that were available to go visit. She likes checking out places prior to talking to renters, so she can determine whether neighborhoods are good or bad without the presence of the owners. She also said she tested out the buffalo wool socks we gave her for Christmas on an outdoor hike, yesterday, and her feet were extremely warm.
    

Nov. 22-28, 2020

Weather | 11/22, 36°, 47° | 11/23, 24°, 39° | 11/24, 0.55" rain, 37°, 47° | 11/25, 0.18" rain, 43°, 45° | 11/26, 0.02" rain, 36°, 49° | 11/27, 35°, 48° | 11/28, 27°, 53° |

• Sunday, 11/22: Garlic Wine Started
  
  • Bill and I first started to make a jalapeno wine, but most of the peppers were either starting to rot, or had mold on them. When they were picked, I was building a new chimney and I didn't get to them soon enough. Mary suggested we make a garlic cooking wine, so she helped us peel 20 garlic bulbs and then chop them up in her food processor. I added a gallon of white grape juice, acid blend, yeast nutrient, a little water, and 3 cups sugar to put the the specific gravity at 1.110, which will give it a 14-15% alcohol content after the yeast is done. The brew bucket with garlic wine must in it sits 12 hours, then pectic enzyme is added, then after an additional 12 hours, yeast is included. The house smells like a garlic factory, especially in the pantry, where the brew bucket sits.
  • Bill made 3 excellent pizzas. We enjoyed some beer he brought with him. Last night, we had a glass, each, of coffee stout beer that he brewed, which was really good. 
  • We played Michigan Rummy between 7:30 and midnight. Mary blasted Bill and I in the game. It was fun. There were times when we laughed so hard, it hurt.
  • Mary reported that at times, there were several shots fired in properties all around us. This is the last weekend of regular deer hunting season. I'm happy to be done with hunting. Mary saw 53 Canada geese fly over while she was handling chickens in the evening, obviously disturbed by hunters walking by Wood Duck Pond. She saw them turn their heads, look at her with her hunter orange vest on, then veer to the north. It's easy to see that they know that hunter orange equals a human with a gun. We wear hunter orange throughout deer hunting gun season as a safety measure, when venturing outside.
    
    
• Monday, 11/23: First Snow
  
  • We got the first snow that stuck to the ground. It came down after sunset, at late dusk, when distant hills disappeared with oncoming snowfall.
  • I added pectic enzyme to the garlic wine in the morning, then yeast to it in the evening. Vampires won't visit our house. It smells strongly of garlic.
  • Katie texted me photos of the last sunrise and sunset of the year where she works at Nuiqsut, AK. She put them on Facebook, too, HERE.
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
  • We were going to cook pork loin on an outdoor fire, but predicted rain and stomachs full of waffles changed our minds. Instead, Mary fixed up pork loins with BBQ sauce, acorn squash, and small garden potatoes. We opened a bottle of grapefruit wine that I made earlier this year. It was more mellow. Mary and Bill like it. This wine is not my favorite.
  • Bill picked out a movie to watch. It was National Treasure.
    
    
• Tuesday, 11/24: Rainy Day
  
  • We didn't get a significant rain, but a steady rain fell slowly throughout the day.
  • Today is the last day of the regular deer hunting season. Of course, here in the land of shooting, there are more deer hunting seasons. The weekend after Thanksgiving Day is the second youth hunting season. Then, Dec. 4-5 is the anterless deer hunting season. The second archery deer hunting season is Nov. 25-Jan. 15. And, alternative deer hunting season, when you can throw a spear at a deer, or knock them over with a black powder gun, is Dec. 26-Jan. 5. There are multiple ways to annihilate deer in Missouri. We've got our meat, so we'll let them roam freely.
    
  • Mary baked 4 loaves of bread. She also cleaned a food-grade 5-gallon bucket. I added a Gamma screw-on lid, then Mary filled it with flour.
  • The garlic wine isn't fermenting, yet. Specific gravity went up 2 points to 1.112. A second look prior to bedtime revealed white ropes in the must, which could be mold (not good), or collections of bubbles from the start of fermentation (good). 
  • Mary made venison stroganof, a dish requested by Bill.
  • Katie almost missed her flight from Deadhorse to Anchorage, due to an airplane that was to fly from Barrow to Nuiqsut breaking down. She said they transferred to a different plane at Barrow in order to fly to Deadhorse. She made it to Anchorage, then to Minneapolis in the early morning hours of 11/25.
  • Bill and I were bums all day.
    
    
• Wednesday, 11/25: Remembering Dad
  
  • My father died 7 years ago on this day. Not one to take a long time to make decisions, my father never let moss grow under his feet. That's the reason why I was gifted with living in so many places as I grew up. I lived a few weeks in Florida after birth, then several spots in western Montana until age 6, then Anchorage and Ninilchik, AK, Carlisle near Fergus Falls, MN, Fargo & Mandan, ND, Greeley and Winter Park, CO, then Anchorage, Eagle River, and Homer, AK. A big advantage to moving so much is that no one is a stranger. It's easy for me to make friends. Also, one learns to read people quickly. Plus, long distances of travel never bother me. So, thank you, Robert A. Melvin. You helped me be what I am today.
    
  • Mary made 42 flour tortillas, chimichangas for our main meal, 2 pumpkin pies from a solid pumpkin that was first baked as halves in the oven, then turned into wonderful pies, and cranberry sauce from scratch (see photo below). She had a busy day in the kitchen.
    
  • I vacuumed flies and Asian ladybugs.
  • Katie texted in early morning hours that she left Anchorage, then landed in Minneapolis. After a layover in the Twin Cities, she flew to Chicago. Her flight got in early to O'Hare, so she was able to catch a midday flight to Quincy. She called from Chicago, letting us know about her early flight. It meant I had to hightail it to Quincy.
  • Once in Quincy, I bought veggies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal at Aldi and HyVee, then picked Katie up at the Quincy airport. As we went home, we drove by a farmer's semi with a grain trailer that jackknifed in the middle of the road in West Quincy, MO.
  • The dogs gave Katie a proper wiggy-waggy tail greeting (see photo below).
    
  • After eating, we watched the 2003 movie, Love Actually.
  • While checking my garlic wine before going to bed, I discovered that the yeast finally kicked in and started fermentation.

The first stage of making cranberry sauce.

Plato and Katie saying hello.

• Thursday, 11/26: Thanksgiving Day
  
  • Everyone was a bum, today, except Mary. She runs with a checklist every Thanksgiving Day, to remind her of the various things that need to be done. The turkey went in at 11 am, and was done by 2 pm. We ate by 2:30. It was amazing!
  • Bill washed 2 loads of clothes. The clothesline was filled and some had to come in and be dried hanging from the line in the living room.
  • I checked the garlic wine. The specific gravity moved just a little bit...from 1.112 to 1.108, so fermentation is starting to eat up sugars.
  • After Mary cleaned all of the meat off the turkey, we took the carcass out to where I left deer carcasses, and dumped the turkey carcass. The only thing left of the 2 deer were part of hides and a couple feet. Coyotes or other critters really cleaned everything up. We're sure they enjoyed the Thanksgiving turkey, too.
  • Katie picked out a game to play. It's called Constellation. We played twice. I won the first game and Katie won the second one. 
  • Katie picked out 2 movies to watch. They were The Man Who Invented Christmas and The Polar Express. 
  • Clouds were closing off the moon and stars when Mary and I walked the dogs for the final time at midnight, prior to going to bed.
    
    
• Friday, 11/27: Day After Thanksgiving (I refuse to name a day black!)
  
  • We enjoyed the All American duty of eating turkey leftovers.
  • We saw a golden eagle fly over our property.
  • Katie wrapped Christmas presents.
  • I checked the garlic wine. The fermentation is robust and the specific gravity is 1.093. 
  • Bill and I racked the pear wine into the 5-gallon big mouth carboy, cleaned the 6.5-gallon carboy we moved the wine from, and then put the wine back into that carboy. We carefully removed leftover wine from atop the yeast residue and tasted it. This tasted like aged pear wine. With an alcohol content between 10-11%, this is much better tasting wine than the pear wine I made last year. The pear taste comes out strongly, which is great. Bill and I cleaned up the winemaking stuff, then washed all of the dishes.
  • Mary, Katie, Bill, and I put up the Christmas tree and decorated it while listening to Christmas music.
  • After trimming the tree, we divided up a bottle of blackberry wine. It's only a month since I bottled it, yet it tasted like a fine finished wine, full of body and very good.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/28: Katie's Christmas
  • I drove Katie to the Hannibal (MO) Clinic. You park in their parking lot in front of a sign with a number (we were number 17), call the phone number listed on a post, give them your personal information, then a nurse comes outside and administers the COVID test. It's a requirement 72 hours prior to arriving by air into Alaska. It was Katie's 4th COVID test. This nurse did the longest nose swab job Katie has ever experienced. Usually, the administrator of COVID tests email results, but not here. Instead, Katie has to develop a patient portal to get results. It took an hour at the Hannibal Clinic parking lot to get through their process.
  • When Katie left Nuiqsut, AK, she was wearing her winter work clothes. Putting them in her suitcase made it overweight, so the clothes went into a big plastic garbage sack. We went to JCPenney in Hannibal for Katie to buy a suitcase. All Penneys had was high-priced junk, so she bought a 17-gallon plastic tote for $10 at Lowe's.
  • While Katie and I were gone, Mary figured out what garden seeds we need to order. We figure seeds ought to be ordered early, since most seed sellers were swamped with extra sales this year and a repeat is imminent.
    
  • When we got home, we built an outdoor fire and had a wienie roast. Mary's relish and piccalilli were very popular with Bill and Katie.
  • The specific gravity of the garlic wine is 1.060, with strong fermentation occurring.
    
  • We opened Christmas gifts for Katie after dark. Katie's gifts to all of us were very thoughtful. She gave Mary several movie bluray disks. Bill got an incredible pillow. I got several tools, including a Milwaukee LED headlamp, plus a 5-gallon glass carboy.
  • We divided a bottle of dandelion wine that was bottled on July 4th. It has too high of an alcohol content...17.7%, so it's too strong. But the floral aftertaste is quite good. We all agreed it's a wine to make, again.
    
  • We called mom after opening gifts. Bill and Katie talked with her for several minutes. Mom was exposed to COVID from her friend, Martha, but after 10 days of staying home, Mom has no symptoms. Mom said a large man camp for the oil pipeline out of Canada is being built between of Circle and Brockway, MT.
  • We watched the 2020 movie, Emma, one of the movies that Katie gave Mary.
    

Nov. 15-21, 2020

Weather | 11/15, 0.19" rain, 38°, 72° | 11/16, 29°, 58° | 11/17, 26°, 43° | 11/18, 31°, 61° | 11/19, 50°, 71° | 11/20, 47°, 57° | 11/21, 0.34" rain, 37°, 45° |

• Sunday, 11/15: Mom's 86th Birthday
  
  • I woke up at 4:30 am with a noise that at first I thought was thunder. It was a very strong west wind, so I moved the Cadillac to the driveway, then let the dogs out while it was raining. Wind I can take when hunting, but a strong wind with rain, forget it. We were wide awake, so we got up.
  • After morning chores and breakfast, I went to the Bobcat Deer Blind. On the way, I took photos of the trail to this blind, and then at the blind, I took a 360-degree video of the view from this spot in the north woods (see below). In the video, I start filming to the south, span west, then north, which is where the big oak tree is that I sit behind, then east, and finally back to the south, again. This blind is relatively bare, now. When I first made it, I wove grass and cedar branches into the fencing. I've found if you're absolutely still, deer usually don't see you, so I quit putting dead vegetation in the fencing at this blind. I've shot many deer at this location. When I first arrived at the blind today, 4 deer ran off to the west.  I saw a large coyote on the hill to the west.
  • I went back home around 11 am and we ate venison sandwiches.
  • I returned to the blind after dinner. At one point, I saw the feet of an animal, but not the body, running down the hill NE of me into the creek bed. By the way it ran, I think it was another coyote. Later, 2 deer ran down that same hill. One ran east, below me, and stopped for a second. I had him scoped in, but he had about a 6-inch spike for horns. It needs to be 3 inches or less, so I let him go. The second deer ran up the hill toward me. I took a left-handed shot and got it in the heart. It dropped instantly...no suffering. It's a small doe, which is good eating. I got Mary. We drove the tractor pulling a wagon down the trail to where I could turn around. Mary and I field dressed the deer, took it back home, cleaned out the body cavity with water from a garden hose, and hung it in the machine shed. Tonight's temperature is going down to 30°, so we're going to let it hang for the night, and butcher it first thing in the morning.
  • I talked to Mom. Her boss at the Circle (MT) Senior Center, Patty, took her out to a noontime dinner for her birthday. She's doing well.

1. Start of West Trail, with clothesline post right.

2. A few feet later, Frog Pond left, West Field ahead.

3. Next, trail goes through 8-year old oaks.

4. Next, trail goes halfway down west field.

5. Right turn, then cross field, & enter north woods.

6. Halfway down Bobcat Trail, once entered woods.

7. Bobcat Stand: cow panels, posts, & a bucket to sit on.

• Monday, 11/16: Our Deer Sanctuary
  
  • I pulled the curtains back after waking up and there were 3 deer in the far garden munching on frozen tomatoes and plants. We debated about me taking a shot out the bedroom window, but several head-height persimmon trees were between me and the deer, making it a poor shot. I let them go. They jumped the electric fence around the garden easily. After walking dogs, we spotted a 9-point buck looking at us from Frog Pond. Through binoculars, I watched him limp off to the west, probably wounded by a hunter's poor aim. So far, I've spent 4 bullets to sight in my rifle and one bullet to harvest one deer as humanely as possible. Hunting involves thinking ahead about your shot and aiming wisely, not spraying bullets indiscriminately from your AK-15, a poor hunting rifle in the first place. I hear them going off in neighboring properties...a first shot...a couple seconds...a second shot...then another shot...all sounding different as a hunter swings the rifle to follow a running deer and misses on each shot. I wish there was a button I could push that remotely slapped each of these poor hunters in the face with a prickly ash branch.
  • After breakfast this morning, I sharpened knives and skinned the deer hanging in the machine shed. We took the hind quarters off and deboned everything. This gave us 22 packages of meat. Then we got shoulder meat, loin, and tenderloin cuts from the carcass. Altogether, we made up 31 packages of meat from this deer. She had a long body, and such deer yield more meat.
  • I hunted the SE deer blind starting at 3 pm. I took photos of the trail to this hunting location (see below). When I turned off the East Trail to the trail to the SE Blind, a barred owl approached overhead followed by several crows that were harassing it. The owl saw me and landed in a tree directly above me. The crows saw me, too, scattered, and flew away. The smart owl obviously used my presence to persuade the yelling crows to leave. 
  • Even though I never saw them, I heard several deer run north, opposite from some cedar trees, as I approached this blind. A large midge insect hatch was out this afternoon, with hundreds of them dancing in the sunlight. About 20 minutes after sunset, I heard, but couldn't see, a deer stomping around north of me. It was dusk and dark in the woods. I saw a form for a little bit, but couldn't tell if it was a buck or a doe. A check of the time indicated it was 5:19, the end of legal hunting for the day. I unloaded bullets out of my rifle, grabbed my things, dropped something, and with those sounds, the deer bounded off to the north. A crescent moon was setting to the west as I walked up the hill to home.
  • Mary did all of the evening chores by herself as yours truly sat on his duff in the woods.
  • Katie enjoyed a blizzard today in Nuiqsut, Alaska, with sustained 30 mph winds.
  • Mom was at the Circle (MT) Senior Center, where she works part-time. She and her boss, Patti, baked 10 pumpkin pies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal served by the senior center.

1. East Trail start, garden fence left, compost bins right.

2. Later down the hill, Dry Pond right.

3. Next, trail switchbacks down steep section.

4. After long walk east, trail turns north.

5. Trail turns back east, with woods on right.

6. Trail drops with left higher than right.

7. Leave East Trail, follow ditch carved in forest floor.

8. After a few steps, jump the ditch, here.

9. Trail turns south a short jaunt through woods.

10. Turn east, jump deep ditch.

11. Trail turns NE, after leaving woods.

12. SE Deer Blind. Yes, another bucket.

• Tuesday, 11/17: "Your Deer Hunting is Over!"
  
  • I didn't go hunting in the morning, because I wanted a rest from it.
  • We had a mid-day chicken dinner with coleslaw and potatoes.
  • In the afternoon, I started to go hunting at the Wood Duck Deer Stand, but the SE breeze was blowing my scent over the dry creek bed where deer usually show up, so I moved to the Cherry Deer Stand, where a SE breeze is perfect. I took photos walking to both these hunting locations, but I'll put them on here some other day.
  • I was there all afternoon. I had a tufted titmouse land on a branch above me. It had an acorn nut in its mouth. Chickadees would land on seeded-out goldenrod. It bent almost to the ground as they tore seeds out and ate them. The sun set to the west at 4:43. It was after 5 when I watched a deer approach from the west. It stopped to eat grass from my trail. I tried to rest the rifle against a dead cherry branch, but it made a loud sound from raised bark on it. The noise spooked the deer, and it started running back to the west. It then turned north, giving me a full profile. I took a left-handed shot. It bounded off to the west. After 3 hops, I didn't see it, so I used a tall oak tree on the west treeline to mark where I last saw it from the deer stand, got down and tried to find it. I couldn't find it, so I texted Mary that my shot missed. When I got back to the tree stand to get my stuff to go home, I realized that I walked too far to the SW, so I went back and looked again and found the deer (see photo below). It is a very large doe.
  • I walked back home and Mary, after seeing the photo, said, "Your deer hunting is over!" We both laughed. It's over for this year, because we have plenty of meat with this deer for another year. I changed to my dirty field dressing clothes, fueled the tractor, then we drove back north. Earlier, I put my seat cushion in a high branch of an elm tree to mark where the doe was laying, but we couldn't find it in the dark, mainly because I kept telling Mary, who was walking ahead of me as I drove the tractor, that she was veering too far west. She wasn't. When I retraced my way from the deer stand, I discovered the deer was further west. I won't know until I skin it, but I think I hit its lungs and it dropped after running out of oxygen. We field dressed it, took it home, hosed down the cavity, then hung it from a rafter in the machine shed. We think it weighs 150-175 pounds without the guts. She's a big mama. The predicted low is 32° and it was 35° when we hung up the deer...ideal meat cooling temperatures. We'll butcher it tomorrow morning. Two bullets and two deer taken, although, at first this evening, I thought I was like the play, Alexander Hamilton, and I missed my shot. I was wrong, thank goodness. We're in the venison, now.
  • While I got a sore butt from sitting all afternoon on a deer stand, Mary cleaned the refrigerator's inside, other appliances, and the silverware. She also did all of the chores.
  • Mom texted that they served 67 Thanksgiving meals at the Circle Senior Center. Since it was a curbside delivery, Mom was very busy.

The 2nd & final doe of this hunting season.

• Wednesday, 11/18: Done With Meat Season - Each fall, we first go through chicken butchering, then deer butchering. It's not a fun chore, but it gives us inexpensive meat, especially with venison, since the only money spent is for ammunition, some plastic wrap, Ziploc freezer bags, and our time. On the final butchering day, which was today this year, we give out a sigh of relief, and a thought of thanks that the meat processing job is done for the year. Most people don't butcher their own meat. Even most local hunters take their deer to a butcher shop, who does the work for them. Butchering your own meat gives you more respect for all that is involved with providing this food staple. For us, I don't think we gobble up as much meat, since we possess a higher regard for the amount of work involved and for the gift of the animal, itself.
  
  • I sharpened knives, then skinned the doe hanging in the machine shed this morning. The deer meat was nice and cool. This big doe was extremely fatty...about an inch of fat on her back. 
  • While I skinned, Mary washed a load of laundry.
  • I singed any loose hair left on the body with a propane torch turned down low. Mary laid down 3 large plastic garbage bags on the kitchen table and taped them in place. We cut the big hind quarters off and hauled it into the house. I cut the hind quarters in half with a meat saw. Mary carved excess fat and silver skin off each haunch. I boned out sections of meat with a filet knife. Mary took each meat piece, cleaned off fat, sinew, and silver skin, then cut them into approximate meal sizes. Mary washed each piece, covered it in plastic wrap, then I put 3 or 4 of these pieces into a Ziploc bag, which is labeled, per the Missouri Conservation Dept., with my name, address, date deer was harvested, and the hunting verification number I get via my phone when I telecheck the deer in after shooting it. Today, we processed 37 packages of meat. With 31 from the first deer and 12 left over from last year, we have 80 venison meals in the freezer, which is plenty. Besides, this deer was large, so our meal sizing was likewise larger.
  • While I disposed of the carcass, skin, fat and gristle waste, Mary washed dishes and knives, and did the chores. I also put away lights and extension cords used for butchering that were strung up in the machine shed.
  • Katie texted that sunrise at Nuiqsut, Alaska is now at 11:37 am. She said what really surprises her is how incredibly long dusk lasts, which is common throughout Alaska.
    
    
• Thursday, 11/19: Fix-it Day
  
  • I fixed things today. First, I fixed it so Mary didn't have to cook breakfast...we had Waffle Friday on Thursday and I made waffles.
  • Mary washed jeans and towels, while I washed my hat.
  • I put a recyclable cloth bag filter in the place of a paper filter in the Shop Vac. It seemed to run better while I cleaned up flies and Asian ladybugs in our bedroom windows. It failed to start after I moved it to another room. It might have a faulty switch.
  • We haven't had a coffeemaker since the third night of chicken butchering, when Mary, who was obviously really tired, forgot to put the carafe into place, the basket that holds the filter and coffee grounds flooded, and filled the water reservoir with grounds, blocking coffee from going into the carafe on later tries at making coffee. Today, I tried to remove the bottom plate, but it's got weird 3-slotted Phillips head screws, known as tri-wing screws, and I don't have a tool for that screw type. I filled the coffeemaker several times with water and just dumped the water out with fewer and fewer grounds coming out each time. Then, I ran half vinegar and half water through the machine, as if I was making coffee, and then ran 2 more batches of plain water through the machine to clear out the vinegar. We're back in coffee tomorrow morning!
  • A couple days ago as I started a fire in the woodstove, a cat started scratching on a couch, so I grabbed the only broom we have that doesn't look like a scraggly Fu Manchu beard, swung it down hard on the floor to get the cat's attention, and broke the handle off the broom. Today I jammed a screwdriver in and removed the cheap plastic fitting that broke in half, found a Fu Manchu bearded broom in the machine shed, removed its handle and screwed it into our good broom head. Since that old broom was once our chicken coop broom, I cleaned the handle with ammonia cleaner.
  • Mary made a shopping list, since we're going to Quincy, tomorrow. 
  • She also swept and mopped the main level floors of the house.
  • Mary took a photo of a walking stick insect on our screen door (see photo, below).

  

  A walking stick (head is on the top).

• Friday, 11/20: Shopping Day
  
  • We shopped in Quincy, faithfully wearing masks and wiping our hands with alcohol-soaked paper towels (the cheaper hand sanitizing method) after each trip into a store. The Quincy Herald-Whig's top headline today is how their county, Adams County, reached 4,000 COVID cases. Yet, we still saw people in stores without masks. Shopping highlights...we got 3 turkeys, 1 for Thanksgiving and 2 for other times in the upcoming year; we found a Porter Cable vacuum, since our current Shop Vac stops after a few minutes of use; I found a small tool kit with several bits, including one that fits the weird tri-wing screw on the coffeemaker; we bought enough food for the return of "The Great Mastication Team," of Bill and Katie.
  • After Reuben sandwiches this evening, Mary and I wrapped all of the Christmas presents we have, so we don't have to do it later when kids are visiting.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/21: Bill Arrives
  
  • I tried out our new canister vacuum. It works great.
  • Mary did a bunch of housecleaning. 
  • Bill arrived around 12:30. Our dogs yipped and wiggled all over him. 
  • Mary did 2 loads of laundry. 
  • After chores, we had nachos and watched 2 movies, Sense and Sensibility and 2015 James Bond film, Spectre.
    

Nov. 8-14, 2020

Weather | 11/8, 52°, 72° | 11/9, 60°, 73° | 11/10, 0.50" rain, 35°, 73° | 11/11, 25°, 51° | 11/12, 28°, 57° | 11/13, 21°, 42° | 11/14, 0.46" rain, 34°, 54° |

• Sunday, 11/8: More deer hunting garlic planting prep:
  
  • Mary did 2 loads of laundry.
    
  • I finished weedwhacking and mowing the trail to the Cherry Tree Deer Stand. As usual, I was greeted at the top of that stand with a hairy raccoon or opossum poop. It seems to be my award for leaving a deer stand up all year. Every stand's top, so far, has had at one poop reward.
    
  • Mary turned over soil in the NE strip of the far garden. No matter how much organic matter Mary puts into that area, it still turns over into large hard clay clods. Consequently, she was unable to finish that strip.
    
  • I burned a tankful of gas in the weedwhacker on the east trail that leads to the SE deer blind. It's the toughest trail to clean, because grass and weeds grow the highest of anywhere in that area just east of the far garden. I also ran the mower over that portion of the trail. After today, I have just 5 days to get everything ready for deer hunting.
  • Mary raked 6 wheelbarrow loads of maple leaves from under the tree next to the woodshed and put them on the compost pile.
    
    
• Monday, 11/9: Garlic Planting Done:
  
  • Mary overturned the rest of the soil in the NE strip of the far garden and planted the last 2 garlic varieties. They were Siberian and Georgian Crystal. The garlic planting is finished.
  • I removed the remaining 2 window air conditioners. Hundreds of Asian ladybugs moved out when I removed the AC in our bedroom. The Shop Vac made quick work of cleaning them up.
  • I tried starting the pickup, but quickly quit when it only coughed, once. I charged the battery for the rest of the day.
  • Mary did 2 loads of laundry, mowed more of the lawn, and raked more maple leaves.
    
  • I weedwhacked and mowed the rest of the trail to the SE deer blind. It's a healthy distance down the east trail, then ends with a short jaunt through the woods, jumping 2 ditches that cut through the timber floor. Deer continue to use the trail, even when it's not mowed.
  • Katie called while we were watching the 2003 movie, Love Actually. She was going to have a long wait in the St. Louis airport and wondered when Bill was leaving at the end of the Thanksgiving break. The answer is Sunday (11/29) and she flies out on Monday (11/30), so it wouldn't work.
  • Later, Katie texted her flight schedule...departs Anchorage via Delta on 11/24 at 10 pm, gets into Chicago at noon on 11/25,  after a 4.25-hour layover in Minneapolis, then Cape Air getting into Quincy at 6:45 pm, after 5 hour layover at O'Hare in Chicago. Return is Cape Air, Quincy to Chicago, 7:00-8:38 am on 11/30; then Delta from Chicago to Minneapolis, 10:30-noon; and Minneapolis to Anchorage, 5:45-8:39 pm.
  • I texted Katie back and forth about Christmas presents she's getting for Bill.
    
    
• Tuesday, 11/10: A windy, rainy day:
  
  • Prior to all of the adverse weather, and while walking dogs first thing in the morning, we saw 3 bald eagles fly south to north over our property. The first one was quite large. The next 2 were calling one another and flying very close together, as if they were playing in the wind. All were adults with white heads and tails.
    
  • A strong westerly wind, a thunderstorm, and rain arrived today. Our rain amount is only an estimate based on online weather reports, because the wind blew our rain gauge so it hung upside down, prior to the rainfall. 
  • We don't have rain pouring onto the ceiling of the sun room or down the sides of the chimney, like we used to have during a heavy rain. There were a couple drips we could hear on the sun room ceiling, probably due to blown off asphalt shingles and no tar paper on the roof above that portion of the house. Still, it's a vast improvement. In the past, it felt like we were living in a leaky canvas tent during a heavy rain.
    
  • Mary made flour tortillas...26 in just a half hour, a new record...just before the thunderstorm hit.
  • I weedwhacked a tankful of gas to clean grass and weeds on the west trail, in order to get to the Bobcat Deer Blind. Rain started falling when I ran out of gas.
  • I moved the Buick and Cadillac into the driveway, away from where weeping willow branches might fall on them, due to strong west winds.
  • I drove to Quincy and picked up a package that Katie sent to our address, but I changed to being delivered to the Wahlgreens store in Quincy, since it was a FedEx shipment, and FedEx never finds us. It is a Christmas present. I got a few things at Aldi.
  • Mary worked on a cross stitch ornament and did all of the evening chores.
  • We ate nachos and watched the 2002 movie, Nicholas Nickleby, based on the Charles Dickens novel by the same name, and staring Christopher Plummer, Anne Hathaway, and many more well known actors. It's a good movie.
  • I got my 3 free deer hunting tags via the Missouri Dept. of Conservation website. Property owners who own land of at least 20 contiguous acres get free deer tags in Missouri to only use to hunt on their own land. We own 160 acres. We're allowed 3 tags per person. If we wanted, we could get 6 tags, but, depending on the size of deer that I get, we only need one or two, so 3 tags is enough.
    
    
• Wednesday, 11/11: Veteran's Day:
  
  • Mary washed and ironed curtains. She also washed the inside of all of the house windows.
  • I weedwhacked and mowed half of the west trail and the trail through the north woods to Bobcat Deer Blind. I left the last several yards of the trail unmowed, so I can hear deer walking through the leaves when I'm in the blind. I cut a new path across the west field, making for a direct path from the south leg of the west trail to the start of the trail through the woods. In past years, when I'd walk the north leg of the west trail, deer would spook up in the north woods. Maybe by walking on the leg across the field from the north woods, I won't scare so many deer.
  • We ordered several Christmas gifts. 
  • Katie was obviously doing the same thing, because she called asking questions about potential Christmas gifts. She told Mary that it was -2° yesterday, with 30 mph wind. Today, she dug a hole in the frozen ground, using a shovel, a spud bar, and a drill. She said there are still a few things to be done before the construction project can work inside, but they're getting close to inside work.
    
    
• Thursday, 11/12: Deer hunting stands/blinds prep finished:
  
  • I went down all of my trails to each of the deer hunting stands and blinds, sawing branches and several small cedar trees that protruded into the paths, cleaning up branches and growth at each hunting location, and tightening cinch straps holding up stands. I replaced the rotten OSB top on the Cherry stand with a piece of half-inch plywood.
  • While walking to the SE deer blind, a doe roared across the trail in front of me, closely followed by a 10- or 12-point buck that was grunting continuously, like a pig. I walked forward after they ran through and right where they crossed the trail was a squirrel, looking dazed, as if to say, "What was that?" Then, behind me went the doe, followed by the buck, in the opposite direction. The doe saw me, but I don't think the buck ever noticed me. 
  • At the cow barn, I never saw it, but a deer stomped out of the brush behind the building.
  • While walking on the trail to the Wood Duck deer stand, a deer ran down the little ditch in the cedar woods to the north of where we pick blackberries in the summer.
  • In the middle of removing the OSB off the top of the Cherry Deer Stand, I spotted a deer eating twigs in the woods to the east. It never noticed me, thanks to a steady wind and the fact that I was using a quarter inch socket wrench to remove screws, which hardly made any noise. It was a doe and a few minutes later, a yearling walked through the same area.
  • When I walked down to the mailbox in the evening, a doe loped off to the west. I hope I see as many deer when I'm hunting in a couple days.
  • Mary put purple paint on trees and fence posts along the south border of our property, which is along the gravel road. In Missouri, purple paint means no trespassing and hunting by others is not allowed on the property. I decided to not worry about repainting purple on the west and north property borders, because the purple paint doesn't fade out on those edges of our property, compared to the south, where it's exposed the most to the sun.
  • We finished 99% of our Christmas shopping with several online purchases in the evening. We texted Bill several times about Christmas gift questions.
  • A local TV station reports that Quincy is near the top of nationwide Coronavirus hotspots, and that according to the New York Times, Quincy is 18th in the nation as a COVID-19 hotspot and 14th in the nation where new cases are rising the fastest. It's no surprise. Any visit to Quincy and you'll see several people wandering around without a mask, or masks worn as chin straps, and "Pritzker Sucks" signs, signifying displeasure with the Illinois governor's COVID-19 restrictions. These signs are usually next to trumpence political signs.
    
    
• Friday, 11/13: Hunting Day Eve:
  
  • It was Waffle Friday, so I made waffles for breakfast.
  • Mary baked 4 loaves of bread.
  • I made another online order for a couple more Christmas gifts. Two of Katie's gifts to others came in today and we texted to her about them.
    
  • I cleaned the spark plugs in the 8N Ford tractor. They get sooty over a year of use and taking a wire brush to them makes the old beast start better...always a good thing if you need to haul a deer in from the woods.
  • I sighted in my favorite 30:30 rifle on the first leg of the north trail, which is straight for more than 100 yards. Before I started, while looking through the rifle's scope, a harrier hawk flew away from me in the vision of the scope. Immediately after that, an 8-point buck stepped onto the trail. Jiminy Christmas, the deer are like lice, lately. He stared for a long time at my target propped up against a small sawhorse to the east of us. Then he turned his head and looked at me, then walked slowly off to the north. I took my first shot at the target, stood up, and saw the deer staring wide-eyed at me. Then he bounded off to the north. I put 2 bullets through the target, changed the scope's settings, shot again, changed the settings back to my starting point, then put a bullet close to the bullseye. That's close enough for me.
  • After dark, I gathered up the gear I need in the morning for hunting. Deer season starts 30 minutes prior to sunrise, tomorrow, or at 6:23 am. There's a 30% chance of rain starting at 6 am, a 40% chance at 4 pm, then a 100% chance at 7 pm, so we'll have to see how well opening day of deer season pans out. Mary told me tonight how happy she will be if we're field dressing a deer in the dark and in the rain.
  • Mary did most of the chores while I put stuff away after sighting in my rifle.
  • The Quincy mayor declared a state of emergency this afternoon, due to COVID case increases. Here's what WGEM reported.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/14: Opening Day of Hunting Season...A Dud
  
  • I woke at 4:45 am (rather late for going hunting) and checked the online radar. A large front of clouds was one county away and approaching. I went back to bed. A half an hour later, big drops of rain were hitting the east-facing bedroom window. Another half hour later, lightning and thunder was approaching. We unplugged freezers and the refrigerator. Dripping started on the sunroom ceiling, so we moved books and set up buckets, then went back to bed. Needless to say, I'm never going up a deer hunting tree stand tied to a tree that's anchored with deep roots into the ground with a lightning rod metal gun in my hands during a thunderstorm. I prefer the life of the living, so I'll let other deer hunters perform that trick.
  • After morning chores and breakfast, I went to a milk crate next to Wood Duck Pond that I put there a few years ago. It's nestled in a willow tree grove. When I first built that blind, I mounded up branches to partially hide me while I sat on the milk crate. The branches have long since floated away. When the pond water is high, it floods a few feed over that milk crate. Water is low right now, so the pond's edge is 50 feet north of the crate. I can easily see my Wood Duck Deer Stand from SE of there. I went there because SE wind gusts to 35 mph made sitting up in a stand a nasty affair, and the wind direction blew my scent out over the pond. Unfortunately, I didn't see a single deer. A dozen wood ducks flew off the pond at one point. They give themselves away, because female wood ducks have a unique, high-pitched squawk, almost a squeal, when they take off. 
  • I was going to leave after 3 hours at the blind, due to predicted rain. Ten minutes prior to that time, someone else fired a shot and I heard the bullet ricochet through the tree tops above me. I got out of there pronto. After several more shots, I was texting Mary about it and she said it was coming from south of her. When I got home, Mary and I walked down to get the mail. Neighbors at the house south of our property were firing across the road, which is illegal in Missouri, into our land, also not right. As we walked down our lane, these 2 individuals went inside the house. I still had my rifle with me and decided not to go over there with a gun in my hands and with those 2 holding a rifle, too. If it happens again, I'll contact the county sheriff. I shouldn't need to dodge bullets on my own property.
  • Mary dusted bookshelves in the living room, where the Christmas tree will hide books for a few weeks.
  • Mary spotted a belted kingfisher for a second time this week.
    

Nov. 1-7, 2020

Weather | 11/1, 35°, 47° | 11/2, 25°, 57° | 11/3, 40°, 70° | 11/4, 47°, 70° | 11/5, 50°, 71° | 11/6, 51°, 73° | 11/7, 51°, 70° |

• Sunday, 11/1: Chicken Butcher Day II
  
  • Mary made a chocolate pie.
  • I added more mothballs to containers under cars and in engine compartments of vehicles, adjusted cattle panel guards around trees that were altered when moving the lift around the yard, and cleaned up a few things related to butchering.
  • I sharpened knives and we started the 2nd night of chicken butchering at 7 pm, 3.5 hours earlier than 2 days ago. It was cooler, but with no wind. We processed 8 chickens. Mary timed me at 20 minutes to skin each bird, which is good, considering how big they are this year. A full moon means you can see quite well outside. I still use a hat light for certain instances. Upon entering the chicken coop for Number 3, the batteries died in my hat light, requiring a quick change. We had a coffee and pie break halfway through and an additional piece of pie at the end. After baths, we hit the hay at 3:30 am, better than the last time. Standard time helped us.
  • Katie says she can come home for Thanksgiving, but wonders if we want her to show up, due to COVID issues. We still need to talk with her about details.
    
    
• Monday, 11/2: Chicken Butcher Day - The Finale
  
  • Our remaining chickens are 16 weeks old today...the outer limit in our chicken butcher world. Mary watched the 8 remaining cockerels chasing each of the 6 new pullets, giving them no rest, this morning, while I put feed in the young birds' feeder. So, whether we're tired or not, WE WILL BUTCHER TONIGHT!!! It needs to happen just to give the poor girls some peace. This will finish 2020 chicken butchering.
  • I cleaned up from last night's chicken butchering, sharpened knives, and took a nap.
  • We looked up ballot information for tomorrow's election. 
  • Starting at 6:20 pm, we butchered our last batch of chickens. It was another nice night with the moon shining, but slightly warmer. No wind meant I could hear the tiniest of creatures rustling about. Occasionally, I'd look up to see a mouse scurrying away. On cue, at midnight the barred owls started calling. Several coyotes howled off and on. We finished the last chicken at 1:30 am, took baths and went to bed, glad to be done with that chore.
  • Katie texted an impressive list of COVID prevention procedures that she and her company go through daily. There is no coronavirus in the village where she's working. We got the text right after finishing butchering...too tired to discuss it. We'll attempt to talk to her soon.
    
    
• Tuesday, 11/3: Election Day:
  
  • We drove to Lewistown and voted in the late morning. There were only 2 people ahead of us, but the poll workers said they were busy...we just timed it right. Bill texted us that he waited 2 hours to vote.
    
  • Once back home, we propped up 3 wooden posts with steel posts on east side of the north chicken run and took down the temporary chick wall inside the chicken coop. While I stored the chick wall sections in the machine shed rafters, Mary started removing old manure and hay bits from inside the coop. After big chunks were removed, I donned the respirator mask, then shoveled and swept the coop clean. Mary moved in hay while I cleaned the metal garbage can where we store feed, the nest boxes, artificial eggs, and sunflower seed buckets. 
  • Convincing our 6 young pullets it was time to go into the coop for the night was a 30-minute rodeo. They ran screaming all over the place. The last pullet to go in, a buff orpington we call Buffy, but temporarily renamed "The Jackass," was chased north, south, busted through the bottom of a fence, flew upward and scratched Mary's ear, then was caught by Mary, moved into the coop, and gently placed on the roost.
  • At one point, Mary watched Leo, our rooster for the past 2 years, march into the north run, surveyed the young chickens, realized no cockerels existed, said, "All is well in my domain," and walked back to the older hens.
  • After watching election returns online for awhile, we called Katie. Since she and her company follow stringent COVID-reducing protocols, which she continues when away from her jobsite, or she'll lose her job, we decided to have her visit on Thanksgiving. We'll also do a mini-Christmas celebration for her while she's here, since she'll be in Alaska during Christmas. I'll check out flights into Quincy via either Chicago or St. Louis, so I don't have so far to drive to pick her up. I'll also look into COVID testing locally, a requirement she needs prior to flying back to Alaska. We'll also exchange Christmas gift lists. When we called, she was working newly poured concrete that was freezing on one edge, but warmed in another area and setting nicely, but mushy in the middle, making concrete finish work concerning, due to varied temperature conditions. She said sun is rising after 10 am and setting around 3 pm.
  • Mary texted Bill, letting him know about Katie visiting us during Thanksgiving, since he'll be here, too.
    
    
• Wednesday, 11/4: Today we did:
  
  • I researched flights by Cape Air into Quincy for Katie. There are 3 flights a day from Chicago and St. Louis. I relayed info to Katie about it. 
  • On COVID tests that Katie needs to return to Alaska, the Hannibal Clinic is best, because they don't require a referral, don't limit the test to only people with symptoms, and don't require an appointment. I called them, then relayed information to Katie.
  • I research several gift ideas for Katie and developed links and a Christmas list for me and sent it to both Katie and Bill.
  • I balanced the checkbook, after 2 months of neglect. 
  • I made waffles for our midday meal.
  • Mary turned over soil where the corn grew this summer in preparation for planting garlic.
  • I tidied up after chicken butchering.
    
    
• Thursday, 11/5: Activities:
  
  • I weedwhacked and mowed the trail to the Wood Duck deer stand and deer blind, which is one of the longest trails on our property. The dry sand bed of the creek that empties into Wood Duck Pond is plastered with deer tracks of all sizes. About a dozen wood ducks lifted of of the pond when I walked down to the water's edge.
    
  • Mary planted Shvelisi and Samarkand garlic after finishing turning soil in the far garden.
  • She also did 2 loads of laundry and made flour tortillas.
  • We researched more Christmas gifts for Katie, since we need to order soon in a need to have them by Thanksgiving, when she visits us.
    
    
• Friday, 11/6: What we did:
  
  • Mary turned over soil in the NW strip of the far garden and then planted Music Pink and German Extra Hardy garlic varieties. She then watered all planted garlic.
    
  • I weedwhacked and mowed the trail from near the beginning of the north trail east to the old cow barn. It was tough going, due to thick lezpedeza (a noxious weed) and scrub elm. The Stihl trimmer with a metal blade on the end does a good job buzzing off these knee-high trees, but while cutting down a tractor-wide trail that's thousands of yards long, it's a slow process.
    
  • I thought my pear wine was going bad, because I saw something floating on the surface in the carboy. After bringing it out of the pantry into bright light, I noticed that little bits of yeast residue shoots to the surface, sits there for a few seconds, sinks, and leaves behind this residue. It's not mold, like I originally thought. I'll let the wine sit for several more days.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/7: Presidential Election Called:
  
  • Joe Biden was predicted by AP to win the presidential election in the late morning hours, after days of counting mail-in ballots. It was a very tight election. Observations:
    
    1. Pollsters stink. In 2 presidential election cycles, they're dead wrong. Caller ID on cell phones means no one answers when a pollster calls. 
    2. Demonstrative politicians attract voters. 
    3. Sometimes, nice people win elections.
    4. Ignoring a pandemic is not the way to an electoral victory. 
    5. Extremist tactics don't win elections. They aren't working for either political party. "It's my way or the highway" didn't work for several House Democrat incumbents. It didn't work for a Republican president. We need to compromise and get along better.
       
  • I sharpened the mower and Mary mowed most of the lawns.
    
  • I took chains off tractor tires. They were used to give the tractor more traction while moving the lift. These chains are large and cumbersome, taking an hour to remove them.
    
  • I drove the tractor to where I had the aluminum ladder deer stand and moved it to the front of the cow barn. From that building's roof, I can see east, north and south across a vast area.
    
  • I started weedwhacking the north trail on the way to the cherry deer stand.
  • We did a wienie roast after dark, in celebration of Biden's win. We despise Trump.
  • After baths, we watched the 1993 movie, Dave.