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.