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.