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 Katie's COVID test administered on Saturday will be outdated with an Anchorage arrival tomorrow, so we checked for COVID test sites in Quincy, since we were in the Gem City.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.